By Kirstyn Clark, WRAL anchor/reporter

As the city of Raleigh celebrated the start of construction on its first new tennis courts in 30 years at Biltmore Hills Park, many residents pushed for more to be done.

The groundbreaking event on Thursday highlighted eight new tennis courts that will be added to the tennis complex, along with improved accessibility to all courts and amenities and improvements to the park's large ballfield

In about a year, when construction is complete, Biltmore Hills will have 16 active tennis courts. However, longtime players like Nicole Sullivan argue that’s only partially true.

“The lower eight courts are not in good shape," Sullivan said. "They haven’t been in good shape. They’ve tried to resurface them, tried to fix them, and they’re just not in good shape, and unfortunately, there’s never been a commitment to fix those courts.”

Sullivan and others showed up to the project groundbreaking with signs demanding accountability from city officials.

Stephen Bentley, director of the city's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department, admitted that the tennis community has been advocating for improvements for nearly 10 years.

WRAL News asked if and how the city plans to address their concerns.

“We’re working with our consultants and the community on what it's going to take to replace these courts," Bentley said. "How much does it cost?”

Bentley said those discussions will start in the fall with a goal to develop a budget by next spring.

Sullivan and others say it shouldn’t take that long.

“They have the money to do it," Sullivan said. "This is bond money that’s being spent. They have remaining money in the budget, and we just want to see those funds used here. Ideally, when we open this park again, we want all that work to be done at one time.”

The city of Raleigh told WRAL News that’s simply not feasible.

“In a perfect world, doing all of them at the same time would be great," Bentley said. "But we don’t live in a perfect world, and, unfortunately, the amount of money the city council and voters approved in the bond was for eight new courts.”

According to the city, its goal is to eventually host tennis tournaments at Biltmore Hills. Everyone WRAL News spoke with agreed it’s a no-brainer with 16 new courts, it's just a matter of how long that will take.

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