After five very long years of working with Alachua County officials, our dream of a large public clay court facility will soon be a reality. Jonesville Park is located on CR241 which runs from Alachua to Newberry Road. The Park is approximately ½ mile south of the intersection of NW 39th Avenue and CR 241.

The facility will have 14 clay hydrocourts, including one larger “show” court and a small proshop/restroom building. The cost of this facility will be $1.5M, with the funding divided between Alachua County and the contractor, Dave Porter, who was also awarded a 10-year management contract. All contracts were approved at the Board of County Commissioners’ meeting on July 8, 2008.

We are very excited about this new development because of the lack of public courts in this area. We will have the ability to organize many new programs, and to grow existing programs. Already Dave Porter has announced that court time will be free for all Junior Team Tennis practices and matches. This will be an enormous asset for our JTT program.

The target finish date for this facility is March 2009. If anyone wishes to donate to the construction of this facility (including tax-deductible contributions), please contact Christine Shurtleff (cs4tennis@aol.com or 352-336-7508). There are numerous items available for donation, which can include a small “Donated By” or “In Memory Of” plaque. And we should soon see a new web site for the tennis center, allowing all to follow the construction progress.