Ottawa repurposes pool operating funds for new tennis courts at Thornton Park

The roughly $100,000 it takes to operate Riordan Pool in Ottawa on a yearly basis still was budgeted for this year and will be used to lay new tennis and pickleball courts at Thornton Park.

The Ottawa City Council voted to approve an extension on the grant money used to remodel the park where the planned new playground already is installed.

“Commissioner (Wayne) Eichelkraut is the one that reminded us that we usually spend around $100,000 a year toward the swimming pool’s maintenance, and since the pool is going to be closed down to be reconstructed, we can shift that money to the tennis courts,” said Ottawa Mayor Dan Aussem. “They’ll last a lot longer than what our original plan was.”

The original plan was to resurface the tennis courts at Thornton Park, although Aussem said the city lost bidders because some of the companies believed the courts were in such rough shape they needed to be completely redone.

The Thornton Park project still on pace to meet its August deadline, but the city now has until Dec. 9 to complete it.