Committee reviews Westwood master plan estimating $54 million; neighbors raise concerns about lights, sound and parking

Jason Olson, director of parks and recreation, told the City of Norman Business and Community Affairs Committee on Sept. 4 that a consultant-led Westwood Master Plan envisions new tennis and pickleball facilities, an expanded practice range, a rebuilt clubhouse and stormwater work — and carries a full build-out estimate of about $54,000,000.

The plan, Olson said, grew from a year-long process with a seven-person steering committee and a consultant selected through an RFP. "We have about 35,000 rounds that go through there a year," Olson said, describing the golf course’s role as an affordable municipal option. He noted the course’s irrigation pond is silting and that the irrigation infrastructure is approaching the end of a typical 20–25 year lifespan.

Committee members said the plan matters because Westwood serves multiple user groups — swimmers, tennis players, golfers and nearby residents — and because any large project would likely be phased and tied to bond funding. "We want to make sure we figure out how to do this and protect pedestrian traffic as much as possible," Olson said, citing the pool’s more than 100,000 summer visits and the need to keep pedestrians separated from vehicular traffic.

Olson described main elements of the concept: new indoor tennis courts adjacent to an expanded outdoor court complex, roughly eight pickleball courts, a covered and potentially lighted driving range, expanded clubhouse functions (restaurant or banquet space), reconfigured parking (an option that could add about 138 employee parking spaces), relocated maintenance facilities, and large-scale dredging and reworking of the irrigation pond and creek channels to reduce reliance on municipal water. He said the consultant and park board have recommended the concept and that the city typically pursues large park projects in phases if voters approve them.

Several members of the committee raised neighborhood impacts they want safeguards for. "From the neighborhood perspective they were concerned with sound and light coming from the driving range or anything that's operating after dark," Council Member Peacock said, urging hours and other guardrails. Peacock also urged stronger pedestrian connections lining up the pickleball facility entry with the swim complex and a central north–south and east–west pedestrian spine between tennis, golf and aquatics.

Olson said the city would work with sports-lighting companies if a lit driving range is pursued to minimize light spill, and that retaining or restoring natural creek channels could reduce underground drainage maintenance. He also described maintenance constraints: the golf maintenance crew currently has six full-time employees for roughly 120 acres, a staffing level Olson called small.

Timeline and cost were discussed as estimates rather than commitments. Olson said some temporary structures (an indoor tennis tent) were installed about 15–25 years ago and that, if the project proceeds and funding is available, construction might fall in a 2032–2035 window. He emphasized that master plans typically cost $30,000–$50,000 to create precise concepts and cost estimates, which he said prevents much larger errors at the construction-bid stage.

There were no formal votes on the plan at the committee meeting. Olson said staff will refine the presentation to emphasize pedestrian circulation and other items the committee requested and will continue public outreach with user groups, the neighborhood and the park board before any funding decisions.

The presentation noted the plan is conceptual and that the city expects to pursue any build-out in phases tied to available funding; Olson said the park department would prepare a business plan and operations plan if the project advances.