ROBERTSDALE, Alabama -- Despite concerns addressed at Monday’s meeting, the Robertsdale City Council voted unanimously to construct tennis courts at property owned by the city on East Silverhill Avenue.

A public hearing was held Thursday, May 23 to discuss possible locations for the courts and consensus among the 12 residents in attendance was to build the courts on the East Silverhill Avenue property said Mayor Pro Tem Joe Kitchens, who presided over Monday’s meeting in the absence of Mayor Charles Murphy.

In April of last year, the council voted to purchase approximately 9/10 of an acre on East Silverhill Avenue at a cost of $100,000. The council also voted at the meeting to accept a donation of approximately 2.1 acres on East Silverhill Avenue from the Middleton family.

Kitchens said Monday the property would allow the courts to be built side-by-side, saving a small amount of money on fencing. The property, which was a former church site, also includes plenty of parking available.

“What we’re doing here today will affect the city for many years to come,” said Council Member Paul Hollingsworth. “I just think that this could cause traffic problems down the road and we do need to address the issue of restrooms, if not now, in the very near future.”

City Engineer Greg Smith said there are no immediate plans to build a restroom facility at the site, but when asked about restrooms at the site, presented a rough sketch to council members, saying the facility would be similar to the one built recently at the city’s splash pad.

Council member Sue Cooper said she thought the site would be better served as a picnic area of some sort.

Council member Brent Kendrick made the motion to approve the site, saying he felt that it was an opportunity to expand the city’s park system to the east.

“We can’t keep putting things at Garrett Park,” he said. “We’re going to need to look at areas of expanding the park and this is a perfect location to do just that.”

Both Cooper and Hollingsworth agreed that right now, the East Silverhill Avenue location was the best place for the tennis courts and both voted for the measure, along with Kendrick, Kitchens and Council member Ruthie Campbell.

The city currently operates four courts at Garrett Park. At a previous meeting, Hollingsworth asked that the current location be considered among the possible locations for the new courts. Plans are to tear down the current courts to be replaced by additional baseball fields at the complex.

The project was part of the city’s 2012-13 budget which was unanimously passed at its Sept. 17, 2012 meeting. Original plans were to build the courts at Robertsdale High School as a joint project with the Baldwin County Board of Education with the city’s part of the agreement totaling $100,000, part of which would be purchased with $35,000 in grant funds.

At its March 18 meeting, the council voted to refinance part of a general obligation warrant from 2006, which would allow the city to borrow an additional $1.5 million, listing the tennis court project as one of six proposed projects to be financed by the warrant.

It was announced at the May 6 meeting, however, that the high school was pulled as a possible location for the site and that the Board could not help with the cost of construction.

The council also voted unanimously at Monday’s meeting to approve the bid from American Tennis Courts Inc., the lower of two bids received on the project, including a base bid of $71,667; a bid of $28,089 for fencing and a bid of $42,520 for lights for a total cost of $142,276 for the project.

Once constructed the courts would be open for public use, officials said.

Also on Monday, the Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution to maintain a traffic light at Highway 59 and County Road 48.

The city has also applied for an ATRIP grant to fund the light, which the city also plans to use as a main connector with the Baldwin Beach Express.

At its meeting Monday, Feb. 4, the Council voted to contract with Gonzales-Strength & Associates, a Tuscaloosa-based firm, to create and implement a proposal for the project with the Alabama Department of Transportation.

Surveys on the project were scheduled to begin at the end of February and plans were to be submitted for review to the DOT at the end of March.

Plans are to submit a final plan to let the project by July 1 with the project set to go out for bids Aug. 30. The project, along with a project to extend Wilters Street to the Baldwin Beach Express, should be completed by the time the Baldwin Beach Express project to connect County Road 83 to Interstate 10 is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2014, officials said.

In other business Monday, the council:

• Reappointed Sylvia Mattingly, Karen Bill and Sherri Manley to the city’s Industrial Development Board.

• Approved a request to donate two Coliseum days in July for the Central Baldwin Chamber of Commerce Flavors of the South event. The city is allowed to use the Baldwin County Coliseum 10 days per year. Officials announced that, with Monday’s donation, the city has only one day left for 2013.

• Approved a request by the Robertsdale High School volleyball team to renew its annual sponsorship at a cost of $150.

• Approved a request from Robertsdale High School to use two Coliseum days, April 4 and 5, 2014 for the school’s prom.

• Voted to surplus and sell a city garbage truck to the town of Loxley for $7,000.