Old Courts To Be Turned Into Fields For Public Use

Townhalls and other community meetings may sound boring to many, but sometimes, they produce action that otherwise wouldn’t happen.

Alexandra Gilmore, a Tampa Palms resident since 2007, attended one hosted by Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and other city planners back in 2020 and when she took the mic, she wanted to know why there weren’t more — or any, actually — public basketball courts in New Tampa.

Her boys, Caleb and Bryce, had searched for places to play, but were always booted off the courts.

“You have to live in a community that has them, or a certain neighborhood, or have a membership somewhere,” Alexandra remembers telling city officials. She told Viera and the others there were courts and space behind Liberty Middle School that could be used but were fenced off to keep kids out.

“Why can’t those be public?,” she asked.

It was a great question, and one that finally got answered on Aug. 25, when the Tampa City Council voted 5-0 to pitch in with the Hillsborough County School District to spend $1 million to upgrade the aged tennis courts behind Liberty.

 Gilmore had no idea her suggestion had even become a reality until the Neighborhood News called her.

“Oh my goodness,” she said. “You’re kidding me! This is absolutely amazing!”

Gilmore stayed in touch with Viera via email while the councilman did the pushing behind the scenes to initiate the project. The Tampa City Council agreed to enter into an interlocal agreement with the School District to improve some of the athletic facilities that adjoin Liberty and Freedom High.

The current facilities — six hard court tennis courts — between the two schools will receive a new design and a court cover to shield those playing from the elements. 

The “all-fields facility,” as it is called, will feature three resurfaced and outfitted courts for basketball, tennis, pickleball or volleyball, depending on the needs. The other three existing tennis courts will be replaced by an artificial multi-purpose turf field and will be covered. Restrooms also will be a part of the new facility. 

The School District will control access to the fields and their usage — most likely for recess and other school-related activities — during daytime hours when Liberty and Freedom are in session. The city will control public access in the evening hours and on weekends.

“Utilizing unused school space for recreation activities for the larger communities, including basketball…is going to be a great thing,” said Viera, who represents the New Tampa area in District 7.

The cost of upgrading the courts is expected to be roughly $1 million, and the City Council voted that the city would pay up to 50 percent, or $500,000, of those costs, using Capital Improvement Plan funds.

During the public comments portion of the City Council meeting, only one person, South Tampa’s Stephanie Poynter, commented and she was in favor of making the courts open to the public. 

“If the City of Tampa is paying half for the basketball courts at Liberty and Freedom schools, those courts should be accessible 24 hours a day if the schools are not in session,” she said. “This is the only place I have ever lived where every single school has a fence between it and the kids who live around it. I’ll never understand that.”

Before the vote took place, the motion was pulled for discussion by District 3 Council member Lynn Hurtak. She favored the interlocal agreement, and asked that the city’s Parks & Recreation Department explore more opportunities like this. 

“How when many of us when we were kids, that at our neighborhood school, after school, we could go play on the playground, in the field, on the basketball courts, do it on the weekends, do it all summer?,” Hurtak asked. “Now, with the advent of school shootings, many of those open spaces have been fenced off for student security, and they don’t allow the public to utilize those facilities, which is a bigger strain on our parks system. So, when I saw this interlocal agreement, I was really excited about it. “

Viera made a point of crediting Gilmore during the meeting. 

“This is going to be a wonderful thing,” Viera told the Council.

Gilmore agrees.

“I remember a couple of people reached out to me after that meeting in 2020 to thank me,” said Gilmore, who was running for the Hillsborough County School Board at the time. “This will be great for kids in the local neighborhoods to have a place to play.”