Officials from the City of Hattiesburg, the Lamar County Board of Supervisors and the Lamar County School District have entered into an interlocal agreement that will allow for the development of a shared-use tennis and pickleball complex on 16-section land adjacent to Oak Grove High School.
The project was first announced back in July, when it was spearheaded by Lamar County District 1 Supervisor Steve Lampton and District 4 Supervisor Mitch Brent. Hattiesburg City Council members voted to approve the agreement on their end at the Feb. 22 council meeting.
“We want to make sure we are equipping every part of the city with quality-of-life parks and amenities,” Mayor Toby Barker said. “This was an opportunity to take a desire from the Lamar County Board of Supervisors, as well as the city and the school district, to share the cost in that and work cooperatively toward the quality of life for everyone.
“This will also benefit Oak Grove High School, to have a dedicated tennis facility for their program. Overall, it helps the region because you’re going to have more tennis courts available, and it will enable us to go after some larger tournaments with the capacity to meet that need.”
Per terms of the agreement, the facility – which is located in Lamar County but within the city limits of Hattiesburg – will initially offer eight tennis courts, six pickleball courts, a support facility and an ingress/egress road off of Lincoln Road. Lamar County officials will assume management and maintenance of the site, along with scheduling of programs and activities.
Lamar County also will be responsible for working with the Hattiesburg Parks and Recreation Department for large events, particularly long-range planned events.
The Lamar County Board of Supervisors and the Lamar County School District will put up $300,000 each for the project, while the City of Hattiesburg will put up $600,000.
The courts will be available for use by the public, as well as students and other staff at the high school.
“We don’t have any public tennis courts in the Oak Grove area at all - none,” Brent said in a previous story. “Our high school tennis team, which also encompasses seventh grade through 12th grade, they drive to Tatum Park every afternoon to practice tennis, and I don’t think that’s a very safe way to do it.
We’d certainly like to have something on campus to where they didn’t have to make that trip every day.”
The interlocal agreement between the three entities is contingent on the renewal of the additional 1-percent sales tax at Hattiesburg restaurants, hotels and motels that was approved by voters in 2019. The tax – which has made possible projects such as a walking trail extension at Duncan Lake, a splash pad in Palmers Crossing and batting cages at Vernon Dahmer Park – is up for renewal later this year.
“So we still have a ways to go in the process,” Barker said. “I think the fact that we have an agreement between three entities is a major step and commitment in seeing it happen.
“I appreciate the work of (the supervisors) and Lamar County Administrator Jody Waits, for seeing the big picture here. We go a lot farther when we work together.”
Lampton said he is excited to help bring the tennis complex to Oak Grove.
“It’s a good thing, because we’re not duplicating facilities and everybody can use it,” he said. “We appreciate the partnership we have with the school district; that’s the only way we can really make this work, because they have the land.
“We got a little money, they got a little money, and we put our (efforts) together and we were able to make something happen.”
