Clubhouse construction, court reservation rules get the go-ahead

by Judy Stringer

Sept. 17 city council meeting

Hudson City Council voted to hire Rycon Construction to build a 6,000-square-foot clubhouse off the 18^th hole of the Ellsworth Meadows Golf Course. The $2.7-million clubhouse will feature a kitchen, bar and dining area, four golf simulators, a pro shop, covered hitting bays, a cart-staging area and an outdoor patio area.

The clubhouse initially went out to bid in April but was re-bid twice, after removing some of the “luxury items” to bring the project cost closer to the original budget, City Manager Thom Sheridan said at the council’s Sept. 10 workshop. Citing escalating construction and material expenses, Sheridan urged the council to move forward on this latest bid.

“The price will never come down,” he said. “If we are going to do it, we need to do it now.” 

Assistant City Manager and Finance Director Jeff Knoblauch, addressing council at the workshop, said a $2.7-million bond issued for clubhouse construction would be repaid from golf course revenues. He also said the course’s revenues through August are more than $400,000 ahead of projections.

At the Sept. 17 meeting, council member Skylar Sutton motioned to remove the covered outdoor patio from the clubhouse construction, saying eliminating that expense would trim $147,500 from cost.

“I do think budgets matter. We budgeted this at $2.5 million,” said Sutton, who had suggested at the workshop that the patio could be added later.

Responding to Sutton’s motion, council member Nicole Kowalski said she’s “only heard resounding support of this plan as it stands.”

“If anything, people wish for even more amenities, and given that we live in Ohio where the weather doesn’t always cooperate, I think [the covered patio] would allow them to continue to operate even in inclement weather,” she said.

Sutton’s motion to axe the patio failed, 3-3, and council then passed the clubhouse construction contract resolution unanimously. Council member Chris Banweg was absent from the Sept. 17 meeting.

Pickleball courts

With a 5-1 vote, council also passed legislation that will enshrine new reservation rules for events that use the city’s pickleball and tennis complex at Barlow Farm Park. Council member Patricia Goetz was the lone “no” vote, saying she believed the rules were “too restrictive.”

The new policy limits tournament reservations to three days, twice a year, and they cannot be held on major holiday weekends. Only pickleball events can reserve the pickleball courts and only tennis events can reserve the tennis courts. In addition, tennis tournaments must always keep at least one court open for public play; pickleball tournaments must keep three courts open.

Council members had begun discussing the need for a formal reservation policy in May after some residents complained that a Memorial Day pickleball tournament would inhibit public use of the Barlow courts. That tournament – the inaugural Hudson Pickleball Classic organized by resident Hugo Sandberg – was a fundraiser that collected more than $20,000 toward eventually lighting the courts.

Before council voted on the new policy, Sutton read a letter from Sandberg that stated the new policy would shrink “the tournament capacity by 44%” and reduce “the amount of money that can be raised for the parks.” The letter also said that “no residents had to wait any significant amount of time to play during the tournament.”

Council member Michael Bird suggested data be collected in the first year of the new policy so that council can understand the impact and determine if “the setting aside of courts is necessary.”

“We just need to lay down policies that are, first and foremost, fair to the community,” Council President Chris Foster added. “And if it turns out that this is too restrictive, in a year, we can come back and revisit this.”

WWI Memorial Monument

Sheridan told council he challenged city staff to find the $17,000 needed to order stone for Hudson’s WWI Memorial Monument and believes he has come up with a solution that will allow the monument to be completed and installed prior to Veteran’s Day in November.

“In public properties, which is the account we use to maintain our facilities and our public lands, we do have $17,000,” Sheridan said.

Chris Bach, who has been fundraising and organizing efforts to restore the monument since 2018, gave council on update on that project at the Sept. 10 workshop. Bach said the 200-pound bronze plaque, engraved with the names of 81 Hudson veterans who served in WWI, has been refurbished, as has a donated bronze eagle that will be mounted above the plaque.

However, the group is short $17,000 for the sandstone base, which will be cut from a quarry in Western Pennsylvania. Bach explained that the price of the stone and its fabrication has doubled from the original estimate, contributing to the shortfall.

Once finished, the 6-foot monument will stand near the location of the former one, which was built out of stones leftover from the Boy Scout Cabin. The plaque and eagle will face state Route 91. The poem “In Flanders Fields,” by John McCrae, will be engraved on the back.

In other meeting news, council greenlighted the design of new sidewalks along Valley View Road, between Hunting Hollow and Wethersfield Drive, and along Hines Hill Road from Granby to Glastonbury Drive. It also approved a nearly $500,000 increase to a federal grant request for funds to help build an overpass above the Hines Hill railroad crossing. The increased ask is related to a cost estimate jump from $14.3 million to $19.5 million.

Council also held a public hearing related to adoption of the 2024 comprehensive plan. There were no commentors. A second reading was held on the plan, which is set for a vote at the Oct. 1 council meeting. ∞