After several months of being put on hold because of cost disputes, plans for the upcoming tennis/pickleball complex near Oak Grove High School are now a go.
During the May 18 meeting of the Lamar County Board of Supervisors, board members voted to approve the transfer of $300,000 from the county’s special projects fun to the tennis/pickleball facility fund to cover expenditures to begin the project. In addition, supervisors approved the award of the low bid contract to Sports Contractors Unlimited LLC for the complex, and authorized board president Warren Byrd to sign a letter to proceed on the construction.
“It’s exciting; it’s much needed in our county,” Lamar County administrator Jody Waits said. “I think we have only two or three public tennis courts in the entire county, and we have zero public pickleball courts in the county.
“So this is just the beginning for this complex – this is Phase I there, and we hope to do more as time goes on. Hopefully, this brings momentum to other things that are needed throughout the county when it comes to parks and recreational facilities.”
The complex – which will be located on Warrior Drive, across from the front entrance of the school – is a joint project between the Lamar County School District, the Lamar County Board of Supervisors, and the City of Hattiesburg, which have all contributed funding.
The $300,000 will help build the actual courts, but will not allow for lighting or the construction of a clubhouse on the premises. To that end, officials will continue with means such as fundraisers to gather the necessary monies to complete all the needed amenities.
“This will certainly get the courts built, and hopefully bring momentum to finding the funds to complete all those facilities in short order,” Waits said. “There are private fundraising efforts ongoing, and then there are actual grant opportunities that we are still pursuing to help bring in the funds necessary to complete the lights and all.
Talks on the project, which is spearheaded by District 1 Supervisor Steve Lampton and District 4 Supervisor Mitch Brent, began in early 2021. When constructed, the court will be the first of its kind in the Oak Grove area.
“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.”
Brent said although a timeline for the project has not yet been set, he expects construction to begin in about six months.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am, not just for me but for all the guys that have been waiting to get this started, including our board,” Brent said. “Our board has been working very hard to get to this point, as well as the Lamar County School Board and the City of Hattiesburg.
“None of this happens without all three of these entities working together, which is highly unusual – you don’t hear about those types of cooperative efforts very often. I’m very appreciative to all of them, as well as our people who are trying to raise money privately. We’d really appreciate more corporate and private sponsorships going forward, because we’re not done – we’re just getting Phase I up and running, but we’ve still got to raise money for the clubhouse facility.”
Officials also hope to raise money for other possible endeavors, including beach volleyball, a dog park and a splash pad. Anyone interested in contributing to the project can go through the Greater Pinebelt Community Foundation at (601) 583-6180 or www.pinebeltfoundation.org.
The project is located on 16th Section land that is owned by the school district. Initially, the plan was to have four to six courts at the complex, but officials upped that number to eight to accommodate other members of the community in addition to the high school.
In July 2021, officials had garnered more than $600,000 – with some funds contributed by Brent and Lampton – which was about half the expected cost of the project at the time. Brent said he was ready to start the project then and there, and hopefully raise money as the process continued.
Early this year, officials from the Lamar County Board of Supervisors received a $2.1 million bid for the project – decidedly higher than the $1.2 million initially expected – putting the plans for the complex temporarily on hold until the recent new funding was made available.
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.”
