San Mateo's Central Park tennis courts opening in June

“Over the years sitting on top of a garage, we have experienced more cracking on the courts than if they had been on regular ground. Just because of their location and sitting on top of the garage, they have experienced more maintenance than they would typically find at other courts,” Canzian said.

The city has nine other tennis courts under its authority, with other high school court options available. San Mateo considered moving the downtown tennis courts along East Fifth Avenue to another location in 2015 while updating its Master Plan for Central Park before deciding against a relocation at that time. Canzian had not heard complaints about the courts being temporarily closed but said opening them would create more tennis opportunities for the community.

“I can only say I suspect our tennis players will be very excited,” she said.

The City Council originally awarded an August $747,831 contract to Newton Construction and Management, Inc. for project improvements, and it has approved contract amendments over the past year for additional repairs. The initial demolition process revealed several problems that required a November contract amendment for $279,903 for further maintenance. At its April 19 meeting, the City Council again approved additional funding for project repairs of $539,436, bringing the new contract total to around $1.56 million. The council also appropriated $25,000 of available fund balance from its parking in-lieu fund and established a contingency reserve of $30,000.

The city said no original architecture drawings were available of the garage structure, causing a limited project assessment that only looked at open and visible conditions. An additional study showed the need for further repairs and costs once the demolition process of the existing tennis court surface began. X-ray scans and a slope survey analysis showed cracking in the concrete deck and the need for additional concrete slab, steel reinforcement repairs and surface preparation that required the $539,436 April 19 contract amendment to complete work. The repairs would increase the structure’s life for 10 years and fix the parking and tennis structure.

A 2019 structural assessment identified the need for repair of the garage structure, and renovation work began on the underground parking garage Oct. 1 with structural repairs and seismic shoring, as well as a complete strip and resurfacing of the tennis court deck. The city is installing a waterproof membrane over the concrete deck but underneath the tennis court surface to protect the steel reinforcement damaged by rainwater.

Other repairs to the parking garage include new structural steel columns and beams installed at the parking garage entrance, a post, elevated slab and concrete floor repair; removing the existing exposed coating and repairing cracks; and applying a base and binder coat for the new roof waterproofing system. The project is exempt from CEQA environmental restrictions, as the repairs involve negligible or no expansion of use.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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