The City of Sunset Hills revised its grant agreement with the Municipal Park Grant Commission to update the tennis courts at Watson Trail Park. The agreement revision was approved by elected officials at the June 9 Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen meeting.

In July 2025, the City received authorization to apply for grant funding through the Municipal Parks Grant Commission. In December 2025, the City was awarded the grant and formally accepted the Municipal Parks Grant Agreement.

The byproduct of this recent revision is a more accurate look at how much this project will cost in total, updated from the original cost estimates developed during the preliminary design phase, according to City Administrator Brittany Gillett.

In total, the project will cost $897,448. This price tag is split between the City, the Municipal Parks Grant and a grant from the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The two grants offered $619,000 toward that total — $465,000 from the Municipal Parks Grant and $154,000 from USTA.

The City will be responsible for the remainder of the project cost, which comes out to $278,448. According to city staff, $89,676 of that total are the city funds allocated for the project, while the other $188,772 is provided though  “in-kind services” from the city, which are non-cash contributions like labor, donated services, equipment use and more. In-kind services were used for categories like the removal and disposal of asphalt tennis courts, tree and dirt removal and more.

“At this time, we are targeting a July 1 completion date and are hopeful that weather conditions will cooperate and allow us to maintain that schedule,” Gillett said.

The tennis courts at Watson Trail Park were last updated in 2010 following tornado damage. Repairs at the time included new fencing, surfacing and solving access issues. Since then, there have been minor repairs to the daily wear-and-tear of the courts, but Sunset Hills now sets out to do a full renovation.