Courtesy: The Topeka Capital-Journal


Shawnee County to turn tennis courts into first ‘Futsal’ outdoor soccer court

by Tim Hrenchir

May 3, 2018

The need for an outdoor soccer court at southeast Topeka’s Hillcrest Park became apparent when people started playing soccer on the tennis courts there, Shawnee County parks and recreation director John Knight said Thursday.

County Commissioners Kevin Cook, Shelly Buhler and Bob Archer voted 3-0 that morning to approve expenditures totaling more than $340,000 for parks and recreation projects, including putting in what will be the first “futsal” sport court in Shawnee County.

That court will replace the tennis courts at Hillcrest Park, 1800 S.E. 21st. Futsal is a modified form of soccer played on a hard surface.

Thursday’s votes came after commissioners on April 19 earmarked $3 million in excess reserve funds to address deferred maintenance needs in parks and recreation.

Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to:

• Enter into a contract through which the county will pay $58,200 to Sport Court Kansas City Inc., to repair the surface and replace the two former tennis courts with an “outdoor futsal sport court” at Hillcrest Park, where the two basketball courts will remain.

• Enter into a contract through which the county will pay $30,000 to Kansas Fencing Inc., to remove and replace fencing surrounding the two former tennis courts at Hillcrest Park. One of those appeared Thursday to now have basketball court markings.

• Approve five budgets totaling more than $252,000 to carry out projects to make various improvements at Rueger Softball Complex, Blaisdell Family Aquatic Center, Dornwood Park, Hillcrest Park and Shunga Glen Park and Trail.

Knight shared figures with commissioners Thursday showing this community’s east side has been receiving considerable parks and recreation investment. Buhler and Cook responded by asking him to talk about improvements for the entire community instead of focusing on one geographic area.


Archer later said he had personally asked Knight to discuss parks and recreation project project funding by geographic area, and “didn’t realize it would be so controversial.” He said he thought the county should balance its parks and recreation investments geographically.

In other business, commissioners:

• Voted 3-0 to enter into a contract through which the county will pay $229,027.06 to Klaver Construction Inc., to replace a culvert over an unnamed tributary of Halfday Creek on Button Road, one-quarter mile north of N.W. 46th Street.

• Voted 3-0 to acknowledge they had received a contract Sheriff Herman Jones signed renewing an arrangement through which his office will pay $38,857 to CBS Manhattan LLC, to provide maintenance for one year for building security-related equipment his office maintains. After commissioners initially considered approving the contract and Buhler voiced concerns about it, county counselor Jim Crowl told commissioners Jones didn’t need their approval to enter into it. Commissioners then voted to instead acknowledge they’d received the contract.

• Received a 25-page report prepared by Shawnee County Parks and Recreation Advisory/Advocacy Board members Joseph Ledbetter and Terri Roberts advocating the county’s acquisition of the former Camp Daisy Hindman in southwest Shawnee County. Archer responded that “no business case” had been made at this point to effectively justify the county’s acquiring it.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com