Granite Bay celebrates completion of Feist Park Tennis courts

Granite Bay, Calif.- About 50 people turned out Friday, June 15 to celebrate the latest addition to Placer County”s Ronald L. Feist Park in Granite Bay: six brand-new tennis courts that will be available to the tennis programs at Granite Bay High School and the general public.

‘This is a wonderful amenity that we as a community will enjoy for years to come,’ said 4th District Supervisor Kirk Uhler, who represents Granite Bay on the Placer County Board of Supervisors.

‘It’s such a good feeling to know we’re just about done with the park,’ said Ronald L. Feist, the park’s namesake, a retired superintendent of the Eureka Union School District.

He noted that a basketball court is the only major project on the park’s drawing boards that has not been completed yet.

Representatives from Placer County”s Board of Supervisors and Facility Services Department, the Roseville Joint Union High School District, Eureka Union School District, community service organizations and volunteer groups were on hand for the grand-opening ceremony because each played an important role in developing the park and its new tennis courts.

The grand-opening ceremony for the 18.4-acre park was held last year.  It is located at 9180 Twin Schools Road between the high school and Oakhills and Ridgeview elementary schools.

The park has play fields for baseball, soccer, football and other recreational activities, as well as picnic areas, tot lots, landscaped areas, a wetlands preserve and a plaza area with a snack shack. The county provided land for the tennis courts and the high school district handled construction work. The Granite Bay Tennis Court Boosters spearheaded a fund-raising drive.

Holly Wong, a representative of the booster group, spoke during the ceremony, emphasizing that her group still is raising funds for such amenities as benches and shade structures. Trustee Paige Stauss spoke on behalf of the high school district and county Facility Services Director Jim Durfee was master of ceremonies.

Feist Park was constructed as a cooperative effort among:

• Placer County, which contributed approximately $1.5 million to the park construction;
• The Eureka Union School District, which initially owned the property, started the project and contributed $70,000 for parking lot construction;
• The Roseville Joint Union High School District, which contributed approximately $770,000 for tennis court construction; and
• Granite Bay community volunteers, who contributed labor, materials and cash donations worth an estimated $1.5 million to the park.