More Dallas Country Club Tennis Courts, Anyone?
A proposed new tennis building could provide Dallas Country Club members more courts to play on and a safer way to cross over Mockingbird Lane on foot.
The plan would replace the old tennis building on the north side of Mockingbird with a taller version that would include rooftop courts and a pedestrian bridge to give members easy access to the outside courts on the south side of Mockingbird.
(ABOVE: The new building could sit closer to Mockingbird Lane and have a skybridge. Courtesy photo)
“Tennis is really popular right now,” said Mac Wesson, who chairs the club committee working on the new building project. “We’re just trying to get a couple more courts if we can.”
Wesson and club past president Bill Wilshusen have been working with Highland Park town leaders to get the project ready for a membership vote this spring.
“We are hopeful that if all the steps needed take place, we can start this summer,” Wesson said.
“I’m probably going to recuse myself, because I can’t wait to play there.” -David Dowler
In addition to membership approval, those steps include changes in zoning regulations and approval of the bridge.
The Highland Park Town Council in January amended the Country Club Zoning District to allow for a taller building to go up as much as 17-feet closer to the north side of Mockingbird Lane than the one there now.
“I’m probably going to recuse myself, because I can’t wait to play there,” council member David Dowler said.
The new regulations would allow the building to be nearly 46.9-feet-tall, almost 7-feet taller than what was allowed in the zoning district before and come within 2.5 feet of the property line along Mockingbird Lane.
But Wesson predicted the new building wouldn’t be quite as close to Mockingbird as the new zoning rules would allow.
Town Council members also have tentatively approved an aerial easement for the bridge, conditioned on a review of final designs for the project.
Wesson said the building is still being designed, and he didn’t have a cost estimate for it.
What is planned, he said, is for the building to have a similar-sized footprint, but instead of having a pitched roof, it would have a flat one, allowing for four courts on top as well as four inside. The existing building only has four interior courts.
The existing tennis building is nearing the end of its useful life, Wilshusen said. “The old one is leaking.”
