Work is under way to convert two tennis courts into 10 pickleball courts at Parham Bridges Park in Jackson.
“We hope to have them completed in the next few weeks,” said Clay Hays, the Jackson cardiologist and resident who serves as chair of the LeFleur East Foundation Board of Directors.
In August, the foundation announced plans to improve Parham Bridges Park, located at Old Canton and Ridgewood roads, and unveiled a master plan for the park created by Tree Design Co. and CCD Architects.
The pickleball courts are the first improvements to be made.
Two tennis courts just south of the Parham Bridges Tennis Center are in the process of being transformed into 10 pickleball courts, which will be a first for the park.
Australian Courtworks is handling the project, which includes redoing the posts, painting and striping the new courts and adding new separation fencing. Also being installed are new windscreens to eliminate distractions and prevent big wind gusts from affecting the trajectory and speed of pickleballs, which don’t weigh much.
“The total project is coming in around $75,000,” Hays said.
Invented in 1965 by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCollum, whose children were bored with their usual summertime activities, pickleball is said to be one of the fastest growing sports in the United States.
Like tennis, pickleball is a court sport, but the games differ in terms of court size, rules and equipment. Pickleball courts are sized like those used in badminton, compared to tennis courts, which are longer and wider. Tennis racquets are heavier compared to pickleball paddles that are about twice the size of ping-pong paddles. Tennis requires rubber-covered balls while pickleball uses perforated plastic ones.
The foundation is continuing its fundraising efforts, Hays said. “Our vision is to redo the 30-acre city park,” he said.
The plan is to update the park, deal with
its drainage issues by adding a storm water retention pond, make it more secure and connect it to the nearby library, which it currently is not.
The plan grew from meetings about a year and half ago that leaders of the foundation held with community organizations about improvements to the park that they would like to see.
Park Golf’s plans to install a free three-hole mini golf course provided the forward motion for the foundation to consider enhancements to the rest of the park, which includes a walking trail, playground, FitLot fitness equipment and tennis courts and a tennis center.
The project is the first redesign of the entire park since its creation. The late W.P. Bridges Sr. donated the tract to the city for a green space in the 1970s.
To fully fund the masterplan will require $9.6 million, which includes the Park Golf three-hole, mini golf course that is estimated to cost $500,000-$700,000 and has already been announced, Hays said.
Improvements, which include adding a canopy over the playground equipment, creating a sculpture garden and expanding the walking trail to the nearby Willie Morris Library, would be phased in, depending upon the success of fundraising, he said.
The plan includes fencing the perimeter of the park as a safety measure for the individuals who use it and as a security measure that would allow for it to be locked after hours, he said.
A major component of the master plan is removing the existing clubhouse to make space for a pop-up vendor area and building new clubhouse with an outdoor event space.
“The existing one has served its purpose,” Hays said. “We want an upgrade.”
The plan also includes making the main entrance to the park the existing one that is off Old Canton Road, across from Walgreens and adding two entrances by the children’s playground that would be gated. Plans call for the closing of the existing parking lot off Old Canton Road.
Connecting the existing trail via a pedestrian bridge to the Willie Morris Library would make it possible for a parent to drop off children for tennis lessons and stop by the library while waiting, he said.
“It would all be in a contained area and be a safe place to go,” he said.
The foundation plans to continue on a month-by-month basis paying off-duty law enforcement officers to patrol Parham Bridges every day of the week, Hays said. The foundation began doing that in June after an individual was found dead at the park on May 15.
The foundation spends about $2,500 a week to pay off-duty Hinds County Sheriff’s Department deputies, who work two-at-a-time, to provide security at the park “seven days a week, usually a few hours in the morning and in the afternoon and early evening hours,” he said.
The Jackson Police Department also patrols the park.
In addition, the foundation and USTA Mississippi have worked together to install six to 10 security cameras through the park.
