The Brentwood Municipal Election takes place on Tuesday, May 6 and the proposed racquet facility is a central issue in the debate between candidates.
While both tennis and pickleball are growing quickly in popularity in the United States, and Brentwood ranks high in players according to research, central to the debate on the multi-million-dollar project is the use of public funds to build a facility that will be used by a small percentage of the population.
Maryland Farms YMCA’s closing in 2023 is what got the issue started. That facility had 23 busy tennis courts that were lost. Although research into how to provide more tennis and pickleball courts was initiated in 2020 by the city when the YMCA closing was announced, in five years, it has not managed to come up with a viable solution that the Brentwood City Commission can agree on. Discussions have been heated. Movement forward has been slow, which has brought about both lost opportunities and rising costs.
While the Brentwood City Commission did agree to pay C & I Design to explore the engineering and design options for a racquet facility in Crockett Park in October 2024, they did not agree on putting a $5 million bond issue on the May 6 ballot for the proposed facility. In January, Mayor Gorman, Vice Mayor Ken Travis and Commissioners Allison Spears and Susannah Macmillan said they did not believe there was enough information yet for a bond referendum. The commission would have had to vote to put the referendum on the May ballot by Feb. 10.
Nelson Andrews, Anne Dunn, and Rhea Little, III have all at one time or another questioned why the issue is not put before the public as a referendum. While these three have not necessarily said no to a facility, they have questioned the funding. For example, Dunn was willing to partner with the county.
The election is crucial because it may cause the commission to swing in action. Up for reelection are Mayor Gorman and Allison Spears. While Little is running, two other candidates have thrown their hats into the ring, Janet Donahue and Kim Smithson Gawrys. Both of these candidates are for giving the community a say in the potential facility through a vote on the funding referendum, which requires community input.
Gawrys told the Williamson Herald, “A third reason I am running, perhaps the most alarming reason, was when the block of four commissioners denied residents a referendum on the racquet facility. The racquet facility is a very controversial project. Brentwood had lost Williamson County as a co-partner on this very expensive project and residents are naturally concerned. To deny residents a vote, and to block residents from weighing in on such a costly and controversial project was troubling.”
Donahue states on her website that she would vote for a bond referendum on the racquet facility. She told Williamson Scene, “The way it’s currently proposed, I’m against it. Part of it is, I think it’s too big and has too many purposes, and also because they didn’t support citizen input in any way. Where it could have been, obviously not a real vote for or against [the] tennis court, but by having a bond referendum as a proxy, for citizens’ feelings about building the whole facility. That’s what the referendum would have done. I don’t disagree that we need some pickleball courts and we need more tennis courts. I don’t think we need one that’s going to function as a tournament facility. I don’t think that Brentwood needs to be a destination like that.”
In a candidate profile article for Williamson Scene, Spears stated that she needs more information to make a decision about the proposed racquet facility project.
“Why would I vote on something to say yes, or an up or down vote, or yes or no vote on something when I don’t know all the information? So I can tell you if it’s going to cost $50 million and we’re going to make no profit on it, then I’m not going to vote yes on it. And, I can tell you that if it’s going to cost $1 million, then we’re going to make a million dollars a year profit, obviously I would vote for that. But, I don’t know where on the spectrum it’s going to come in.”
You can read her complete profile from Williamson Scene here.
The racquet facility continues to fan the flame as several commissioners on both sides have had questions raised about their ethics, underhanded dealings, and questions of there being conflicts of interest during voting on the issue. There are also accusations of both sides sharing misinformation with the public to swing sentiment.
While the racquet court facility is the central issue, what most people are concerned about is the contention it has caused between the Brentwood City Commissioners.
“Seeing some of the dissension and contentiousness in the city commission recently, that’s not my Brentwood,” Donahue added in the Williamson Scene. “I want to get on the Board of Commissioners and get us back on the civil pathways and have a way for everybody to feel comfortable being up there – the citizens to be respected – I think there’s been a lot of disrespect back and forth, and commissioners to respect each other.”
Of note, there are private businesses that are building pickleball courts in south Davidson County, and one will be coming to Brentwood in the near future, however, these do not solve the tennis facility issue. Also, tournaments did take place at the old Maryland Farms YMCA facility, so the desire to build a tournament-level facility is not an unreasonable desire.
Although it appears relatively simple, the need for tennis and pickleball courts is not simple. There are questions of cost and profitability, who owns and who runs the facility. However, there are cities in nearby counties that have managed to build successful public tennis and pickleball facilities.
With emotions running high and the election coming soon, it looks like the issue will not be settled until after the election, which is also when the reports from C & I Design are expected to be available.
The Brentwood City Election takes place Tuesday, May 6th. Precincts will be open from 7am to 7pm. Get more information here.
If you would like to learn more about the candidates, check out the Candidate Forum here hosted by the League of Women Voters.
Please join our FREE Newsletter
