City serves notice on tennis courts
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

Instead of building three new tennis courts at Morrison Park, Agoura Hills will refurbish nine courts at Agoura High School.

The Agoura Hills City Council voted in favor of renovating the school courts and entering into a 10-year joint use agreement with the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

The decision to renovate the courts was prompted by some residents who preferred to keep the park's grassy play areas for picnics and a children's play area. The agreement will allow the city to exclusively use the tennis courts during nonschool hours, including nights and weekends.

The school reserved the right to use the courts outside the regular school day during championship games and other school activities as long as 48-hour notice was given.

At the Feb. 28 City Council meeting, Amy BrinkJones, director of community services, outlined the pros and cons of the agreement. Although the council had hoped to reserve at least two courts for public free play during the day, school officials nixed the idea since the courts must first be available for students. The city would have the right to schedule supervised clinics or instruction during the day as long as the courts aren't needed by the school.

The city will have use of the courts by 4 p.m. during the school week, Brink-Jones said. She said the city will give up the use of three courts during the day for nine courts at night. Lighting had not been planned for courts at Morrison Park.

It's a winwin financial arrangement for both agencies. The city will spend $161,200 to resurface the nine courts, replace all nets, lower fences between the courts, upgrade and add new lights and create new entrances and exits to and from the courts.

City officials floated the idea of transforming two courts into a premiere stadium court with bleachers, but school officials preferred the extra court, saving the city $149,000. The city also expected to add a new chain-link fence at the cost of $84,600, but it, too, was deemed unnecessary.

The cost to build three new courts at Morrison Park was estimated at $400,565. New park basketball courts and restrooms were previously approved by council members and are under construction.

The agreement between the city and the school district includes a $5,000 per year facility use fee. Although council members said they believed the city should be allowed to use the courts free of charge since the city is paying for the renovations, school officials disagreed.

Donald Zimring, Las Virgenes deputy superintendent, said a facility use agreement was necessary.

"Joint use facility agreements are very common," Zimring said. The cities of Calabasas and Santa Monica have paid for improvements at local schools, but continue to pay a yearly fee to use the school for league sports and other activities, he said.

Although Councilmember Harry Schwarz said he wasn't thrilled with having to pay a facility use fee, he believed $5,000 per year was reasonable.

The city will also maintain the tennis courts and pay electrical costs estimated at $2,000 per year for the lighting.

"It's a great cooperative agreement between the city and the school," Mayor Dan Kuperberg said. "Nine lit courts have more benefit to the community than three unlit courts." Nevertheless, Kuperberg said he hopes to see tennis courts at Morrison Park in the future.