Millville plans tennis court, worries about traffic

By Joseph Sheppard

February 18, 2005 | MILLVILLE -- The City Council discussed how to cover costs for building a new tennis court in a park to be built on the north side of town and the possibility of a major increase of traffic on 450 North on Thursday.

The city plans to apply for a Recreation, Arts, Parks, and Zoos (RAPZ) grant from the county to cover $40,000 of the cost. Millville has received $25,000 in RAPZ funding over the last two years for the purchase of the land for the park, Mayor Mike Johnson said. The purchase is not final yet, but that the park will be on the north side of Millville, he said.

The council estimated the tennis court would cost around $100,000. This cost would include the court itself, the parking adjacent to it, the fence surrounding it, the nets inside of it, and all the labor involved.

"A lot of the labor we could possibly get volunteer," Johnson said. He estimated $5,000 could be raised in donations and that $15,000 of volunteer labor could be procured. The council projected that the city will cover the remaining $40,000.

City Recorder Rosemary Jones said the council hopes the application for the RAPZ grant will be accepted so they can begin construction this summer, but that there is no way to be certain when the project can actually be started.

A new subdivision of 392 houses is being built east of Providence this summer and Councilman Rod Hobbs said he is worried that Millville could get a lot of new traffic draining onto 450 North.

"This is something we need to start worrying about," Hobbs said.

Hobbs said the city could upgrade 550 North in order to handle the new traffic.

"We"re concerned about it because presently it is only a 32-foot right of way," he said.

Mayor Johnson suggested the Millville city council get on the agenda for the next council meeting of Providence to discuss the issue and the council agreed to do so.

Rex Davidsivor was sworn in by the city recorder as a new planning commissioner. He replaces outgoing commissioner Ron June. Davidsivor's term will go until February 2007. Davidsivor was previously an alternate for the planning commission.

The council plans on publishing notices to request proposals for services for the city. Jones said she will put out notices for auditing, engineering, and legal services.

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