Construction delays have continued on campus with the postponement of the relocation of the tennis courts and construction of the university’s new entranceway.
The project was scheduled to begin with the construction of the new tennis courts in front of the Walsh Athletic Center after a legal settlement with the university’s town neighbors was approved on Feb. 12, according to John Fallon, Fairfield University’s attorney.
“We’ve decided to defer the project this year principally because of the amount of construction and renovation going on on campus,” said Douglas Whiting, associate vice president for Public Affairs.
“The work that the university is doing as well as the Prep beginning its large-scale construction project, we thought that doing the entrance and moving the old tennis courts at this present time would be too much for the campus to handle-especially with the access roadways into campus.”
Following graduation this year, the current tennis courts would have been torn up to make way for the main entranceway that would lead into the center of campus. However, the construction has now been pushed back until the Spring of 2003.
Director of Athletics Eugene Doris says certain compliance issues complicated the project financially.
“By in large it’s my understanding that it was a financial decision and a decision in regard to working with the town,” Doris said. “I think everybody wanted to get the whole project done, but when the final results started to come in there were some questions whether or not we were going to be in total compliance with everything-questions with the boulevard were the major issue.”
The extra time will allow the university to adjust some of it’s original plans, according to Doris.
“The project involved a lot more [money] than the institution is ready to put out right now,” Doris said. “We’re going to have more money to work with next year-that’s more the issue and being able to go back and look over the plans again and seeing whether or not there are ways to do some things a little differently than was originally looked at.”
Whiting cites the construction of the new soccer and lacrosse field and Fairfield Prep’s immediate plan to connect the school’s two academic buildings as the major reasons behind the delay.
The relocation of the print shop, computing and network services, Human Resources move to Dolan, the renovation of Loyola Hall for the Ignation Residential College and the complete renovation of Campion Hall this summer were also factors in the decision, according to Whiting.
“There’s just too much going on at once,” Whiting said. “Unless something unforeseen should happen, the plan would be for completion of the construction project the Summer of ’03. It’s certainly a project the university is committed to doing.”
Although Whiting cites the delay for practical reasons over financial issues, Doris says it was a combination of the two factors.
“Trying to do it all sounded good, but then when your looking at everything else they are trying to get completed-it may not have been such a money end with this, but in terms of completion of some of the other projects, it might have been,” Doris said.
For now, the men’s and women’s tennis teams will remain playing on the university’s current courts for another year.
“It’s a little dissapointing, we were looking forward to playing on the new courts and new atmosphere in front of the Athletic Center,” said Colin Torrance ’04. “But at the same time, we’ll get to experience one more year of people beeping their horns and cheering for us as they drive by.”
Krissy Fitzpatrick ’03 agrees that the situation is disappointing but the courts are currently located in a good location on campus.
“I like where we are playing now because we’re in the center of campus and everyone gets to see us play as they drive by,” Fitzpatrick said.
First-year head tennis coach Jeff Wyshner says the delay won’t affect the program at all.
“I’m a little disappointed,” Wyshner said. “We were getting our hopes up that the new courts would be done by this May. But certainly a delay of one year is not a significant problem for us because the current facility is outstanding.”
FROM THE ARCHIVES: This snapshot was originally created in November 2001 based on the school’s ten year plan for construction on campus. The plan is tentative, but also features projects that have been completed. 
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