(April 28, 2016) John McNult, chairman of the Ocean Pines Association Racquet Sports Committee, said he and others on that advisory board have worked hard to bring several planned improvements to the Manklin Meadows Racquet Sports Complex to light.
“We got the point where it went out for an RFP [request for proposals] and we got one response, which, in itself, makes the whole process invalid,” he said, following an executive council meeting in Ocean Pines last Thursday. “It’s null and void. It shouldn’t have even been discussed.”
That a roughly $750,000 bid came in for a project estimated to cost $250,000 was, however, discussed at length during several board of directors meetings.
In November 2014, the board voted 5-2 to approve a plan for Manklin, which included four new platform tennis courts, eight new pickleball courts, a community garden, a reorientation and rebuilding of the existing playground, and improvements to the parking lot – all at an estimated cost of $250,000.
General Manager Bob Thompson blamed stormwater and peripheral costs with the higher-than-expected – and only – bid. Most recently, in March, the directors voted 4-3 to approve an expansion of the parking lot at Manklin, repairing and relocated the existing playground, and installing fencing. The price tag was “not to exceed” $150,000.
As a stopgap, the board also directed Thompson to look into converting two of the 12 existing tennis courts at Manklin into pickleball courts, as well as building two new platform tennis courts, potentially utilizing used materials.
McNult said his committee still supports the original plan for the complex, adding, “that’s still our main objective.”
“The committee feels … that plan can be implemented in a cost-effective manner,” McNult said. “That one RFP we got back was just null and void. It was not a valid response.”
He said the tennis community was not happy with a compromise that would, potentially, take two of their hard courts away.
“We would live with it if we had no other choice,” he said. “One of the people I talked to about it, who has been an active tennis member for more than 20 years, said it’s like, ‘do you want your foot chopped off or your head?’ You can live without your foot, but not your head, so we’ll take the foot.
“We really would like to investigate getting the pickleball courts as they were discussed and planned,” McNult continued. “We went through a lot of trouble to get to that point. It wasn’t just a whim of someone saying, ‘let’s stick them up in the playground.’”
McNult said it’s possible that could still happen, because the directors approved the first step of moving the playground. Whether the rest of the project – the actual racquet sports courts – could come to fruition is anyone’s guess.
“We feel like it could be done in a cost-effective manner, much closer to the budgeted numbers that we all had [in 2014],” McNult said. “We don’t want to end that quest. It may be ended for us, but that’s the way it goes.”
“We got the point where it went out for an RFP [request for proposals] and we got one response, which, in itself, makes the whole process invalid,” he said, following an executive council meeting in Ocean Pines last Thursday. “It’s null and void. It shouldn’t have even been discussed.”
That a roughly $750,000 bid came in for a project estimated to cost $250,000 was, however, discussed at length during several board of directors meetings.
In November 2014, the board voted 5-2 to approve a plan for Manklin, which included four new platform tennis courts, eight new pickleball courts, a community garden, a reorientation and rebuilding of the existing playground, and improvements to the parking lot – all at an estimated cost of $250,000.
General Manager Bob Thompson blamed stormwater and peripheral costs with the higher-than-expected – and only – bid. Most recently, in March, the directors voted 4-3 to approve an expansion of the parking lot at Manklin, repairing and relocated the existing playground, and installing fencing. The price tag was “not to exceed” $150,000.
As a stopgap, the board also directed Thompson to look into converting two of the 12 existing tennis courts at Manklin into pickleball courts, as well as building two new platform tennis courts, potentially utilizing used materials.
McNult said his committee still supports the original plan for the complex, adding, “that’s still our main objective.”
“The committee feels … that plan can be implemented in a cost-effective manner,” McNult said. “That one RFP we got back was just null and void. It was not a valid response.”
He said the tennis community was not happy with a compromise that would, potentially, take two of their hard courts away.
“We would live with it if we had no other choice,” he said. “One of the people I talked to about it, who has been an active tennis member for more than 20 years, said it’s like, ‘do you want your foot chopped off or your head?’ You can live without your foot, but not your head, so we’ll take the foot.
“We really would like to investigate getting the pickleball courts as they were discussed and planned,” McNult continued. “We went through a lot of trouble to get to that point. It wasn’t just a whim of someone saying, ‘let’s stick them up in the playground.’”
McNult said it’s possible that could still happen, because the directors approved the first step of moving the playground. Whether the rest of the project – the actual racquet sports courts – could come to fruition is anyone’s guess.
“We feel like it could be done in a cost-effective manner, much closer to the budgeted numbers that we all had [in 2014],” McNult said. “We don’t want to end that quest. It may be ended for us, but that’s the way it goes.”