GATE CITY — The tennis courts at the Scott County Park and Golf Course will receive their first major repairs in nearly five decades thanks to grant funds from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The Scott County Recreation Department will use the $50,000 Land and Water Conservation Fund grant it was recently awarded to update the park’s two tennis courts and add a number of spur trails to its current nature trail.
“The benefits provided by these additions and upgrades to the nature trail and tennis courts will positively impact the well-being and enhance the quality of life for residents here in Scott County,” Scott County Recreation Department Director Skip Sheets said.
Sheets said the use of in-kind work and equipment would cover the county’s 50 percent match for the grant.
“The grant was contingent on our 50 percent being in-kind use, so there won’t be any cost for the county,” Sheets said. “It’s actually a $100,000 project, so through in-kind labor and equipment donations, we’re saving the county the money on that part.”
While all of the work is needed to help improve the park, Sheets said the repairs to the tennis courts, especially, were long overdue.
Sheets said the courts, which are used on occasion by the Gate City High School boys and girls tennis teams for practice, have become an eyesore for the park after receiving only minimal repairs over the past 50 years.
“The tennis courts were getting ready, after another winter, to be closed because we had some huge cracks,” Sheets said. “You can only do so much with the cracks and the net posts that are concreted in there. So we’ll get new nets, new net posts and a new fence, and it will also be resurfaced. ... It was basically getting to where they would be unsafe.”
Work on the tennis facilities is expected to begin by spring, Sheets said.
In addition to more modern tennis facilities, Sheets said the money would also allow the department to make additions and improvements to the park’s 1.5-mile nature trail.
Sheets said the planned spur additions would provide more variety for visitors who use the nature trail, which connects the park’s tennis courts, golf course and picnic shelters.
“This will give us a few challenging hills and a few flat areas for people to walk in,” Sheet said. “So this will add some different scenes and variety, and we hope it will make it more user friendly.”
Work is expected to begin in the coming weeks on the spur trails, Sheets said.