(Nov. 27, 2014) The Ocean Pines Board of Directors approved a site plan for a new racquet sports complex at Manklin Meadows Park during its regular meeting on Saturday, Nov. 22.
The motion passed 5-2, with President Dave Stevens and Vice President Marty Clarke dissenting. The board did not earmark any money for the complex.
Parliamentarian Tom Terry, who worked on the Racquet Sports Advisory Committee that helped develop the plan, introduced the motion. The board examined four sets of plans, favoring Site Plan 4, which includes four paddleball courts, eight pickleball courts, a reorienting and rebuilding of the current playground and improvements to the parking lot.
“This is not a budgetary request,” Terry said during the meeting. “This is simply a visionary statement that says this is how we think this land ought to be used as growth occurs, as demand occurs, as requirements grow. I purposely did not put any money in this.
“It’s not asking for money for anything,” Terry continued. “There’s already money in the budget for certain portions of this. I purposely did not put any money in this because it is not a request for money. It is simply a request for the board to confirm, along with the advisory committee and all the members that worked on this, this is the vision that we agreed to over time.”
Each component of the plan, Terry said, would come before the board for approval.
“All of this has got to come back to the board,” he said. “This doesn’t approve a single dollar for money to be spent, but it does establish the direction.”
John McNult, chair of the advisory committee, said he was pleased with the board vote.
“The site plan is really the key to getting some new courts built,” he said. “Now that we have the site plan approved, we hope the next step should move along pretty quickly with some RFPs being issued to execute some of the work that’s in the site plan, get some pricing back, get some costs in front of the board of directors and see if we can get approval to move ahead with some of the project.”
McNult said he has been involved in the planning process for more than two years. At least five iterations of the plan bounced around before Soule and Associates PC helped develop the formal blueprint.
“It’s been such a long road getting to where we are,” he said.
The fourth plan, McNult said, brought together all the necessary elements.
“It makes the sight more attractive than it is today,” he said. “It also makes it safer than it is today, and it adds the extra sports courts.”
McNult said moving the existing playground and providing structural repairs should be the next step.
“That would be step one,” he said. “Step two would be to get the pads poured for the new courts, and that could be done at the same time.”
Step three would likely be improving the parking lot.
“The final steps would be to get up the fencing that we need for all of the courts and get the rest of the aesthetic improvements done,” McNult said. “If we could get this rolling right now and get the RFPs issued in a reasonable amount of time – within the next two or three weeks – they may even be able to start some of the preliminary work. I think, best case, I would happy if we could be playing on some new courts next June.”
The motion passed 5-2, with President Dave Stevens and Vice President Marty Clarke dissenting. The board did not earmark any money for the complex.
Parliamentarian Tom Terry, who worked on the Racquet Sports Advisory Committee that helped develop the plan, introduced the motion. The board examined four sets of plans, favoring Site Plan 4, which includes four paddleball courts, eight pickleball courts, a reorienting and rebuilding of the current playground and improvements to the parking lot.
“This is not a budgetary request,” Terry said during the meeting. “This is simply a visionary statement that says this is how we think this land ought to be used as growth occurs, as demand occurs, as requirements grow. I purposely did not put any money in this.
“It’s not asking for money for anything,” Terry continued. “There’s already money in the budget for certain portions of this. I purposely did not put any money in this because it is not a request for money. It is simply a request for the board to confirm, along with the advisory committee and all the members that worked on this, this is the vision that we agreed to over time.”
Each component of the plan, Terry said, would come before the board for approval.
“All of this has got to come back to the board,” he said. “This doesn’t approve a single dollar for money to be spent, but it does establish the direction.”
John McNult, chair of the advisory committee, said he was pleased with the board vote.
“The site plan is really the key to getting some new courts built,” he said. “Now that we have the site plan approved, we hope the next step should move along pretty quickly with some RFPs being issued to execute some of the work that’s in the site plan, get some pricing back, get some costs in front of the board of directors and see if we can get approval to move ahead with some of the project.”
McNult said he has been involved in the planning process for more than two years. At least five iterations of the plan bounced around before Soule and Associates PC helped develop the formal blueprint.
“It’s been such a long road getting to where we are,” he said.
The fourth plan, McNult said, brought together all the necessary elements.
“It makes the sight more attractive than it is today,” he said. “It also makes it safer than it is today, and it adds the extra sports courts.”
McNult said moving the existing playground and providing structural repairs should be the next step.
“That would be step one,” he said. “Step two would be to get the pads poured for the new courts, and that could be done at the same time.”
Step three would likely be improving the parking lot.
“The final steps would be to get up the fencing that we need for all of the courts and get the rest of the aesthetic improvements done,” McNult said. “If we could get this rolling right now and get the RFPs issued in a reasonable amount of time – within the next two or three weeks – they may even be able to start some of the preliminary work. I think, best case, I would happy if we could be playing on some new courts next June.”