Abbeville tennis courts to be resurfaced

Those who play tennis in Abbeville will be receiving a present just in time for Christmas.
A project to resurface the tennis courts at A.A. Comeaux Park is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The Abbeville City Council will accept bids for the work during its regular meeting scheduled for Dec. 5.
“We are going to try to procure price quotes from as many contractors as possible,” Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said. “We want to do get it done locally and in a timely manner.
“We plan on awarding to the appropriate bidder at our first meeting in December.”
The project has been in the works for a few months.
“This has been going on since the spring,” Piazza said. “The work was supposed to be done in the late spring.”
The city initially delayed the project to allow completion of the high-school tennis season. Both Abbeville High and Vermilion Catholic utilize the courts.
“We pushed it back to the summer and we just encountered one problem after another,” Piazza said.
That came in large part because of issues with the previous contractor, with whom the city council had awarded a bid earlier this year.
“For various reasons the company was not able to perform the work as promised,” Piazza said. “We ended up having to file suit against them.”
The city is moving on with plans to have the work done in the coming weeks.
“We are going to ask the contractor who is awarded the bid to start immediately,” Piazza said.
Work will be done on each of the five courts at A.A. Comeaux Park. Cracks on the court will be patched and the courts will be leveled. The final touch will be a resurfacing. The end result should be plenty of happy tennis players.
“The courts get a lot of use,” Piazza said. “We are happy about that. Leagues play there and both high schools use it. A lot of the school kids practice there. People teach tennis lessons there.
“It important for us to get this project completed.”
Timing also plays a part.
“We like to try to finish these types of projects before the end of the year,” Piazza explained. “Especially ones that have been budgeted because those funds have already been allocated. You don’t want to have to re-budget the project for next year.
“It’s best to get those completed and paid for so you can start from scratch on other projects for next year.”
The city is using funds from its Capital Outlay. That fund is generated from sales tax revenue.
“Sales tax has been very healthy this year,” Piazza said. “That is a real positive thing for the community.”
The improved tennis courts are not the only positives resonating from A.A. Comeaux Park. A skateboard park is in the process of being finished. Workers continued to build the dirt foundation for that park Wednesday morning.
“We are very excited about the skate park,” Piazza said. “That has been in the works for a year and we have planned that for a couple of years.
“That is a project that has been on the city council agenda numerous times and now it is coming to fruition.”
That is thanks to the help of many. Along with the city, the Abbeville Rotary Club, Vermilion Parish Sheriff Michael Couvillon and the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, among others, have contributed to the project. The Rotary Club raised more than $20,000 during a fundraiser in March.
“There has been a lot of community support for this project,” Piazza said.
Like the tennis courts, the skate park is expected to be up and running by the end of this year.
“There are a lot of things going on at the park,” Piazza said of A.A. Comeaux. “It’s a good time right now.”