On weekday mornings inside the Coach Howell Center, pickleball players show up between 8 and 9 a.m. They line their paddles up on a bench by the windows to hold their place in line. When nine people are waiting for a court, games switch to first to 9 points, win by 1, so the line keeps moving.
On the same Stone Park property as that gym, the City of Oxford wants to build 24 courts. Most of what's notable about the plan comes from the ground it would sit on. The Stone Park site drops about 28.5 feet. That slope decided where the courts, parking and pavilion could go. It's also behind most of the objections neighbors raised at the October hearing.
The Line Already Has Rules
The Oxford Park Commission's pickleball page reads like a system built to share too few courts among too many players. Courts are first come, first served, and no reservations are taken. When people are waiting, everyone plays doubles. All four players leave the court together, and four new players come down from the bleachers. A group that wants to stay together has to let others go ahead to make a full foursome.
Here is the free-play schedule the Park Commission lists right now:
| Where | When | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coach Howell Center | Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to noon | Main morning session |
| Oxford Activity Center | Monday to Friday, until 4 p.m. | Overflow and afternoon play |
| Oxford Activity Center | Select evenings, 5:30 to 8 p.m. | Basketball or volleyball practices can bump it |
| Both buildings | Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon | |
| Oxford Activity Center | Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. | Court 4 only |
| Avent Park, 120 Park Drive | Seven days a week | Outdoor, first come, first served |
Evening play at the Activity Center depends on what else is booked there. The Park Commission posts changes on a whiteboard inside the OAC and on its social media. Avent Park's outdoor courts are the only option listed for an unscheduled game at any hour.
So this is a sport that shares space with youth basketball, depends on gym hours and needs a written rule for when nine people are waiting. That's the demand the Stone Park project is meant to absorb.
Three Proposals in Three Years
The plan approved this month is the latest of several. Each one has grown.
| Year | Proposal | Courts | Cost figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2024 | Indoor courts in the Hayakawa building, a separate project | 13 | $1 million proposed from the 2% food-and-beverage tax |
| April 2025 | Tournament-ready courts at Stone Park | About 16 | About $3.5 million |
| October 2026 | Pavilion and outdoor courts at Stone Park | 24 | "At least $5 million," as cited at the hearing |
The Oxford Eagle reported in August 2024 on the Hayakawa proposal, which named the Park Commission as the likely operator. It was a different building and a different idea, and it isn't the project now out for bid.
The Stone Park idea came up in April 2025 as roughly 16 courts for about $3.5 million. At that point the Board of Aldermen agreed to pay for preliminary engineering and design, according to the Oxford Eagle. That money covered design work, not construction.
Eighteen months later, the design has 24 courts. The $5 million figure came from a resident at the October 12 Planning Commission hearing, who attributed it to the city's Director of Special Projects, Mark Levy, and said the cost could rise further with overruns. It's a working estimate from the hearing, not an approved construction budget.
What 28.5 Feet Does to a Site Plan
Stone Park covers about 21 acres at 423 Washington Avenue. The Howell Activity Center and the John Leslie Tennis Complex are already there. The new facility would add 18 courts under a pavilion, six outdoor courts, restrooms, an elevated spectator platform, a relocated playground with new equipment and 59 more parking spaces. Twelve of those spaces would sit near the playground and 47 along Molly Barr Road. The park's Washington Avenue entrance would stay, and the pickleball facility would get a new entrance off Molly Barr.
Courts have to be flat, and this site isn't. The Oxford Eagle's October 19 report explains how the slope led to both variances the Planning Commission approved:
- Retaining wall height. The city asked to exceed its own height limit for retaining walls. Without that variance, the plan would lose 24 parking spaces along Molly Barr Road.
- Build-to line. City code puts the maximum setback at 60 feet from the property line. The pavilion would sit about 82 feet, 8 inches back from Molly Barr Road. Moving it closer would put it on steeper ground and wipe out the 47 spaces planned between the pavilion and the road.
Commissioners also asked how people would walk between the new courts, the tennis complex and the parking lots. Levy said the city could add more connections, including a sidewalk and stairway linking the facility to the trail near the John Leslie Tennis Complex. Some of those links depend on whether an alternate parking area ends up in the final project.
The plans include screening, landscaping and guardrails where required. The plans don't say whether the courts will have lights.
The Argument Over the Tennis Courts
The slope is also why neighbors objected. Building level courts and parking on a hillside means grading, walls and clearing. At the hearing, residents raised concerns about safety, tree loss and cost, according to a Citizen Portal recap of the meeting. One speaker questioned whether pickleball will stay popular long enough to justify the spending.
The most concrete alternative came from a speaker who said Stone Park once held Little League fields and state tournaments before they were replaced with tennis courts. The speaker said those courts now sit mostly empty and argued the city could convert some of them. "You can get four pickle ball courts per tennis court and it would save the city $5 million," the speaker said, according to the city's video of the October 12 meeting. The same speaker described the project as taking the park's remaining green space and removing large trees.
The city sees the new courts and the tennis complex working together. It presented the facility as a way to meet local demand and host local and regional events, and said part of the plan is to use the Leslie courts and the new pickleball courts together for tournaments. People at the hearing disagreed about how often the existing tennis courts are full.
Speakers raised two separate questions. One was whether demand will last long enough to justify a project of this cost. The other was where the courts should go, on the park's sloped, wooded ground or on tennis courts that are already paved.
From Bid Day to Opening Day
The city is the owner on this project, and Beard + Riser Architects designed it. The bid notice on the architect's planroom lays out the sequence:
- Pre-bid conference. This was held October 13, 2026, at 10 a.m. at the Stone Center for contractors thinking about bidding.
- Bid opening. Sealed lump-sum bids for one general contract covering 24 courts, parking lots and a restroom and utility building were due by 2 p.m. on Thursday, October 29, at 107 Courthouse Square. Bids were to be opened and read aloud in public.
- Holding period. Each bid needed a bid security of 5% of the bid amount. Bidders can't withdraw a bid for 60 days after opening, and the city can reject any or all bids.
- Board of Aldermen. At the hearing, officials said qualified bids would go to the Board, and that the earliest would be the first Tuesday in November. They said it could also come later, and that it would appear on the Board's published agenda.
The first Tuesday in November fell on November 3, so that's the earliest the Board could have acted. The Board's October 20 regular meeting agenda had no Stone Park pickleball item.
Several things are still open. No construction funding source has been named. No operator has been named for the finished facility. No groundbreaking or opening date has been set. The only build time mentioned at the hearing came from a resident who guessed the project would "probably take a year to build."
Until There's a Pavilion
Until there's a pavilion, the courts listed in the table above are where Oxford plays. The Park Commission also runs a few programs that don't depend on a new building.
- Intro to Pickleball. Worth duPerier teaches this class for the Park Commission each quarter. It's for ages 15 and up and usually runs two to three weeks, covering everything from fundamentals to strategy. Dates are posted on the Park Commission's social media and its Currently Registering page.
- Tournaments. The Park Commission holds indoor and outdoor events through the year, open to all skill levels, and supplies the balls. Entry fees depend on how many divisions you enter.
- Questions about play times. Sam Pryor at the Park Commission handles pickleball scheduling.
Balls are provided during free play, and a few loaner paddles are available. The Park Commission encourages regulars to bring their own.
Stone Park is one of several public green spaces around Oxford that are changing. Out past town, the Ole Miss Field Station is opening more of its land for public use.
If you're weighing a home based on how far it is from the parks you actually use, from Avent Park now to Stone Park if the pavilion gets built, Zach Callicutt can map those drives for you and keep you posted as the Board of Aldermen acts on the bids. Book an appointment and we'll start with the courts you play on.
