Plans for the upcoming tennis/pickleball complex near Oak Grove High School have been stalled for the time being, as the Lamar County Board of Supervisors recently received a $2.1 million bid for the project – decidedly higher than the $1.2 million initially expected.
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.
“It came in higher than expected, so the board (of supervisors) has it under consideration pending a review of the availability of funds,” Lamar County administrator Jody Waits said. “I would expect it to move forward, but we’ll have to do some due diligence on the funding sources.”
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.”
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.
“We feel like once we get started, we’ll have a little bit easier time getting some donations to help from the private sector,” Brent said. “Also, we’ve got some people writing grants, trying to get some grant money to help finish it out.
“So it’s moving along, and it’s going to happen - it’s just a matter of how long it’s going to take to finish raising the money. The county is going to go ahead and provide the labor and machinery to get that (area) cleared off and ready to start. Hopefully by doing that, we’ll generate enough interest to get some money rolling in."
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.”
