Local residents play volleyball at the proposed court’s site. Photo by Lauren Turner.
Dallas Park and Recreation staff approved the proposed sand volleyball court for Tietze Park on June 29.
Next, a development agreement will be created to ensure that all contractors involved in the project are correctly licensed and to solidify a payment schedule. Friends of Tietze Park will contribute $25,000 to the installation of the court, and the city will match their funding.
The installation of the court will likely take around two months to complete once work starts. District 14 Park and Recreation Board member Rudy Karimi said he expects a groundbreaking to take place sometime in July, weather permitting.
The court is the latest feature to be added to the neighborhood park, joining tennis and basketball courts, a pool, a playground, a walking trail and a softball field.
“This amenity will provide a new dimension for Tietze Park that will be attractive to multiple age groups, now and in the future,” Lisa Marshall, the president of Friends of Tietze Park, said in a statement. “The community input, both pro and con, has been important in guiding this project to be the best fit.”
Friends of Tietze Park is updating its website and will set up a donation page for the project.
“The Friends of Tietze Park is excited to partner with Dallas Park and Recreation to add this terrific new amenity to our beloved park,” Sam Gillespie, the vice president of Friends of Tietze Park, said in a statement. “I believe that both neighborhood skeptics and enthusiasts will come to enjoy sand volleyball at Tietze for generations.”
Approval for the court came after several community input meetings, with the final one held June 21. Although some neighbors were skeptical about the project, many were in support.
“While this will certainly be a fun and exciting new amenity to our beloved Tietze Park, it also presents an opportunity for the Friends of Tietze Park, the park department and I to stay accountable and take ownership of the concerns members of the community still have about the new court,” Karimi said. “Trust me when I say those concerns did not fall on deaf ears.”
