Tiff over tennis court expansion at Lincoln’s Woods Park not resolved by new plan

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Some Lincolnites are at odds about what to do with Woods Park: Build more tennis courts or keep it the way it is?

There’s long been debate over what the land at 33rd and O streets should be used for.

Right now, the nonprofit Friends of Woods Tennis is looking to expand its tennis courts.

President Todd Peterson said the sport is important to the community.

“We want to be good neighbors,” he said. “We’re not trying to build a nuclear waste dump here; we’re trying to get kids and adults active.”

The group has reached its capacity of 500 kids for the current session. Peterson said it has turned away more than 120 kids.

Neerav Jain, whose daughter plays tennis, came from Chicago for a tournament at Woods Park.

“I think in the future you may have national level tournaments happening here, so it will even build some revenue also,” he said. “The quality of facility they’re building for this whole area it will support very well.”

Peterson said the original plan was to expand to the north, but now officials hope to build south, which would take less of the green space.

“We’re not just building to build,” he said. “Once we build what needs to be done, we’re done. We have no desire to build any more courts whatsoever.”

But the group Woods Park: Keep it Green said it’s heard that before.

Mary Anne Wells, one of the founding members, said the courts have been expanding for decades, and the group doesn’t want to lose any more of the park.

“There’s people that walk here every day,” she said. “And every time they expand tennis, our sidewalks get moved, and we’re forced to walk through the fencing around the tennis courts.”

The group said tennis is just one use for the park, which is used by numerous families living nearby.

“We’re not against tennis,” Gary Wells said. “We think they’re doing a great job, and they have a big enough facility to do what they want to do now. For future needs, they need to go build a second facility in the southern part of town, where there are no public tennis courts.”

Carole Curry, another member, said this is the closest green space to the neighborhood.

“Keep it green means keep it green,” she said. “We want trees; we want grass. We love the multiuse area. We know that it fits well into the climate action plan having more green, not more concrete.”

The Keep it Green group will be marching on Wednesday from 3 to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Participants will start at the baseball field at 31st and J streets and walk to 33rd and O.

An online survey for you to share your input will be available by the end of next week.

The city will also hold three public meetings at the Woods Park Place building: on March 2 at 11 a.m., March 4 at 5:30 p.m. and March 5 at 11:30 a.m.