Bryan County Commissioners last week voted 4-0 to spend up to $850,000 for the construction of 10 tennis courts at DeVaul Henderson Park.

Bids on the original project, which included a center court and large clubhouse, came in at between $1.18 million and $1.76 million, according to Bryan County Administrator Ben Taylor. The project was scaled back to eight courts for $750,000 with a smaller clubhouse and less fencing and lighting, but under that scenario two more courts were able to be added back in for an extra $100,000.

The project is expected to take about 160 days. Crews began clearing the land within two days of the vote.

Mark Yontz, president of the Richmond Hill Area Tennis Association, said the new courts are something the group has had on its radar for several years.

“The tennis community here is growing and in a lot of situations we don’t have enough courts to accommodate everyone,” he said. “We’ve been working with the county to accelerate this.”

Yontz said he was glad to see the county approve 10 courts.

“If we have 10, we can look at hosting some junior tournaments, and we use 10 for our adult mixed team league,” he said. “It will nice to be in one locale.”

The league currently uses the eight courts and Richmond Hill High School and two at the South Bryan Recreation Center.

“The scaled back version will still have a small clubhouse with restrooms but no meeting room,” Yontz said. “It’s still a huge addition to what we have currently.”