HERMON – Town councilors gave their nod of support for an ambitious project to develop a tennis complex in town, adding to the community’s already growing outdoor recreation offerings.

Members of the board overseeing development of the proposed eight-court tennis facility got support from the council to hire a consultant to look at the feasibility of raising the projected $1 million needed for the project.

The council has supported revamping the three high school tennis courts, but this project is different than the replacement planned for several years ago.

“We felt it was important to let them know about the project and get an affirmation that we were going in the right direction,” Lee Cliff, co-chairman of the Penobscot Tennis Pavilion committee, said Friday, one day after the Hermon council endorsed the project’s moving forward.

The committee expects to spend an estimated $16,500 to hire consultant Gary Friedman & Associates to look at the feasibility of raising the $1 million. With such a hefty price tag, Council Vice Chairman Michael Soucy asked at Thursday’s council meeting whether raising such an amount was achievable. Ultimately the consultant would have to assess that, Cliff said Thursday, but information so far suggested “it is very possible,” he said.

Admittedly, much has changed in the project in the three to four years since discussions began in earnest about making substantial improvements to athletic and recreation offerings in town.

“It was much larger than was originally intended,” Town Manager Clint Deschene told the council Thursday.

Although the tennis complex is still early in its development stages, officials envision ample spectator space, lighting for expanded use, and a covered center space.

Tied in with it will be plans to offer landscaped recreation trails and places for exercise and leisurely recreation. The tennis complex would complement improvements already made to the soccer fields as well as the New Hermon Mountain Ski Area, golfing at Hermon Meadows, and a four-field soccer complex being proposed for Outer Hammond Street.

“We really want to make this a wellness center and a healthy community,” Paul Soucy, committee co-chairman and Hermon High School athletic director, said.

Backers also see its use and benefits stretching beyond the town line, hence the inclusion of Penobscot in the name. The courts and other facilities could draw regional athletic events, Soucy said.

The tennis complex is phase two of what is being described as the Greater Hermon Community Athletic Complex, with the soccer field lights installed last fall as phase one.

Soucy said the first four courts could be in place as early as fall, although officials acknowledge there is still much work to be done.