SIMI VALLEY : School’s Courts May Get Resurfaced

Simi Valley High School tennis players, who now play matches at a nearby park, could be lobbing balls across their home courts as soon as next spring, officials said Thursday.

The school board agreed this week to resurface the school’s five tennis courts at an estimated cost of $105,500.

For the past several years, the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams have been competing at the Rancho Simi Community Park courts and using the courts at school for practice. Students also share the park’s courts with Royal High School and local junior high schools, George Ragsdale, Simi Valley High’s athletic director, said.

“Since it’s a parks and recreation facility, you also have to share it with the community. It’s a real scheduling nightmare,” Ragsdale said. “This is very encouraging to me.”

A resurfacing company examined the courts and recommended three options to the school board. One method would have cost $40,500 and lasted two to three years while another more extensive job would have cost $65,500 and lasted three to five years. The most expensive proposal--laying concrete slabs with acrylic coating and new nets--would run $105,000 and last seven to 10 years.

The school decided on the third proposal, using money from the district’s surplus property funds.

The Simi Valley Unified School District plans to award a bid in February and the work is scheduled to be completed by April, said Roger Grady, director of planning and facilities.

Royal High School tennis players, whose courts might need to be relocated when a new stadium is built there, would be able to use the new courts at Simi Valley High, Grady said.