Breed tennis court repairs slated for September

LYNN – With glass-filled cracks running through them, Breed Middle School?s rundown play courts won?t be safe to play on until contractors start repairs in late September, a city project manager said Thursday.Three basketball courts and three tennis courts located next to the O?Callaghan Way school will be among the first of a dozen parks and playgrounds across the city slated for fixups.Community Development Assistant Facilities Manager Michael Murray said the work is long overdue.?They?re in terrible shape. There are cracks six inches wide that are actually a danger,” Murray said.Community Development Director James Marsh earlier this summer said the city is spending $150,000 to fix the Breed courts. He said the Breed courts and courts in Keaney Park behind English High School are the only ones available to public school sports teams.?We would like to get them all done as soon as we can,” Marsh said.Murray said the repair work advertised to solicit contractors bids and a late September construction start mean the courts will probably not be available for play this fall. Workers will fill in court surface cracks, apply material to cover the court surface and repaint the striping lines on the courts. Ten-foot-tall fences will be reinstalled around the tennis courts.The Breed repairs and $590,000 in work planned for Fraser Field are among the first projects scheduled as part of the city?s $4 million park and playground repair plan. The City Council last December gave city financial officials permission to borrow that amount to pay for the repair work.Marsh said the Fraser repairs include $390,000 to be spent on repairs to the cantilever roof and $200,000 to be spent on field turf repairs.Repairs in other parks and playgrounds include restoring tennis and basketball courts in Frey and Gallagher playgrounds and Magnolia Playground.Courts in those parks are also cracked and uneven, according to a city description outlining repair plans. Gallagher?s basketball and tennis courts need three sinkholes filled and the Frey repair description refers to “huge cracks” on the courts. The Magnolia repairs include this special requirement mentioned in the description: “Install new netting over existing chain link fence to protect play areas from use and pollution by existing Canada geese.”