Granite Shoals selects construction company for Phase 1 of $500,000 sports complex
The Granite Shoals/Bob Sylvester Airport is now a municipal airport thanks to city council members who voted for the new designation. Before, the area was a park. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
The city of Granite Shoals took another step toward creating its multipurpose sports complex.
City Manager Jeff Looney told council members during their regular meeting April 9 that the city has contracted H.D. Irvin Steel Construction to refurbish the inside of the metal building that currently houses two regulation-sized tennis courts.
The courts are part of what’s known as the Roddick Tennis Center near city hall on Phillips Ranch Road. The company also will fix the floor.
This work is part of Phase 1 of the complex. The city will pay the company $135,000.
The complex is a project that became reality in March 2017 when the city received a $500,000 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department grant.
The grant is to help create two soccer fields for 14-and-under players, two volleyball courts, two basketball courts, three batting cages, one shuffleboard court, and one pickleball court.
In other action, council members voted to change the classification of the Granite Shoals/Bob Sylvester Airpark from a park to a municipal airport.
Looney said the change gives the city more leverage with the Federal Aviation Administration in terms of getting state funding.
It also allows residents a chance to create hangar homes. These dwellings within hangars that are at least 1,200 square feet and can be used as small, livable spaces for pilots to stay one or two nights. With a park designation, hangar homes are prohibited by ordinance.
As an airport, city leaders now can reach out to other government entities such as the Texas Department of Transportation for advice, the city manager added.
The council also:
• approved renting tower space to Zeecon Wireless Internet at $3,000 annually to put an antenna for better internet service to residents.
• approved giving Hill Country Child Advocacy Center $3,000 instead of the $1,000 the group requested. The council had approved a donation of $3,000 in the budget in September, Looney said, who added council members believe in the work of the group.
• approved reimbursing the Boys & Girls Club of the Highland Lakes $3,000 for the 2018 summer nutrition program the club.
• will host Coffee with the Council at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 4, at Crazy Gals, 8037 RR 1431 in Granite Shoals.
jfierro@thepicayune.com