By Carmen Ensinger
While it seems like the Winchester Civic Group and the City Council have talked about creating pickle ball courts for forever, they will become a reality this spring.
“We had a purchasing committee meeting and invited two companies to bid on resurfacing and repairing the old tennis court and basketball court to make into pickle ball courts,” Mayor Rex McIntire said. “There was a huge disparity between the two bids and we tried to compare apples to apples and try to figure out just what we were looking at. Each had different plans on how to make repairs.”
The two companies bidding were VICC and Slo-Mo. Both companies bids included grinding off the highs spots, filling in the major cracks with concrete and filler and paving both lots with two inches of asphalt overlay.
Both companies suggested holding off until Spring to do the work because laying asphalt in the cooler temperatures causes the asphalt to suck the heat out of the ground and could cause openings in the surface.
There was almost a 3-1 difference in bids. Slo-Mo gave a bid of $34,900 while VICC’s bid came in at over $100,000. The council approved the bid from Slo-Mo.
As for funding the project, Mayor McIntire asked City Attorney John Paul Coonrod if the park was in the TIF district and if TIF funds could be used on this project.
“One reason we have the TIF is to improve the facades of our buildings, the paving of our streets and sidewalks,” McIntire said. “I think improving the quality of living by having better basketball courts for our kids to play on and pickle ball courts for people of all ages to get exercise on is a small price to pay.”
Coonrod said it was in the TIF district and those funds could be used for that purpose.
Civic Group President Jackie Kuchy reminded the council that they are hosting Harvest Fest on Sunday, Oct. 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We are fine leaving one side of the square open, but we would like three sides of it closed off,” she said. “We would also like some picnic tables from the pavilion moved up to the square for people to use.”
Kuchy said there will be live music from 2 to 4 p.m. and there will be several different activities for the kinds, including pumpkin and face painting. There will also be several food trucks serving up a variety of foods.
Kuchy said work has begun on the mural on the side of their building (Rural Cyclery). Kuchy had originally asked the city for a donation towards the cost of the mural but now says she has some fundraising ideas she is going to host so she is not worried about it anymore.