Library’s Gain, Tennis Lovers’ Net Loss
The spiffy new Shadle Park library will come at the expense of valuable practice space for the Shadle Park High School girls tennis team.
In a deal worked out with the Spokane Parks Department, a new library branch will be built at the northwest corner of Shadle Park.
In exchange for the free rent, the library must perform a $200,000 renovation of the aging park. The work will include tearing up four tennis courts and replacing them with a paved, tree-lined walkway.
The deal has Donna Lenseigne, coach of the Shadle Park High girls tennis team, making a racket.
Lenseigne admits the courts are “awful,” but says without them, she will have to cut players because of a lack of practice space.
“The public doesn’t use them much - they’re awful courts,” said Lenseigne. “I understand what the Parks Department is doing. But when they’re all you have, you use them.”
Lenseigne said she had 34 girls turn out last year and needs eight practice courts. Without the courts that will be removed when the new library is built, she would have practice space for only 16 girls.
The courts are also used for matches by both the boys and girls teams, Lenseigne said.
The Parks Department requested the cracked, weathered courts be removed and the pathway built to give the park more of a “neighborhood feel,” according to Taylor Bresseler, city parks manager.
“I know the school is upset about it,” said Bresseler. “There is a point that this park needs to feel like a public park and not a school ground.”
Bresseler noted that all eight courts the tennis team uses are on park grounds, and the renovations are leaving four courts intact.
“I think it’s too bad the school doesn’t have great athletic facilities,” said Bresseler. “The park just doesn’t have the friendly feel that you’d expect from a neighborhood park.”
The new $1.8 million library will more than double the square footage of the present Shadle branch, which is housed in the Shadle Shopping Center. The collection size will increase by 25 percent.
The library, designed in a halfmoon to overlook the renovated park, will also have a 100-person meeting room.
Renovations to the park also include plans to reconfigure playground equipment, put a new roof on the amphitheater and remodel the picnic area.
Public meetings to let the neighborhood know of the plans and give input will be held later this month. Dates will be announced.
Construction will begin as early as March of 1996. Completion is expected by March of 1997.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: New library site