Coronado City Council Moves To Create More Pickleball Courts At Cays Park | Coronado City News | coronadonewsca.com

2022-07-29 22:43:35 By : Ms. csvigor Q

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 67F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph..

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 67F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.

Director of Public Services and Engineering, Leon Firsht, gave a presentation to the Coronado City Council at the Tuesday, July 19, council meeting regarding tennis and pickleball courts. The presentation and following discussion was a continuation from direction given to City Staff on the topic at the May 3 meeting.

On May 3 councilmembers discussed the possibility of making court No. 5 at the Coronado Cays Park a dedicated pickleball space for four courts within it. They also discussed temporarily converting the basketball court next to court No. 5 into a half court to make room for additional pickleball courts until more pickleball court space could be created.

These discussions have also included necessary updates and improvements to the existing courts in Coronado. Firsht gave the Council the following cost estimates for each portion of this project:

~$184,000 for resurfacing Cays Park courts No. 1-4, the Coronado Tennis Center courts, the Coronado Public Library courts, and the Coronado High School courts

~$179,000 for converting Cays Park court No. 5 into four permanent, north/south facing pickleball courts with court improvements and adding light fixtures

~$180,000–184,000 for converting the Cays Park basketball court into additional pickleball courts while keeping one basketball hoop and about a half basketball court

There was also discussion on May 3 of the possibility of reconfiguring that grassy space behind the basketball and tennis courts on the northernmost end of the Cays Park to be able to accommodate an additional new court to be a dedicated space for more pickleball courts. However, staff mentioned this option would be costlier so they did not include that in their presentation at this time until further direction was given by the council.

Based on these estimates, all together this project would equate to around $545,000. City staff recommended that this be broken up into short term and long term portions of that project that would focus on funding the resurfacing of the Cays Park courts as well as the pickleball conversion of court No. 5 and part of the basketball court at the Cays Park more immediately, while improvements such as new light fixtures and fencing would come at a later point in time.

The funds for these projects would likely be sourced from the city’s General Fund and court refurbishment would be scheduled in phases so as to keep some courts open for use at all times and as such, is projected to take until spring of 2023 to be completed.

The topic drew an extended period of public comment. The majority of speakers were in favor of adding more pickleball courts in Coronado through permanent court conversions, citing the widespread and growing popularity of the sport as well as the roughly equal numbers of players of both sports in Coronado as shown by the survey presented by City Staff at the May 3 meeting.

Additionally, these pickleball advocates noted they are not trying to take away basketball from the Cays Park, and only want an equal amount of space as tennis players given the equal number of players for each sport thereabouts.

A couple of residents who spoke during this period brought forth their concerns about the noise of pickleball, as a resident living near the courts. Noise concerns also came from the point of view of tennis players finding the noise distracting and taking away from their experience of playing in courts No. 1-4 at the Cays Park.

As the Council discussed the issue, they noted that they are not trying to take anything away from one recreation activity to give to another but reiterated the dilemma of Coronado’s limited space with being such an active outdoor community. All councilmembers were in agreement with approving Cays Park Court No. 5 being converted into four permanent pickleball courts, however there were mixed ideas regarding where and how to implement additional pickleball courts at the Cays Park in the immediate future until the Cays Park Master Plan is approved and implemented.

Councilmember Heinze suggested also converting Court No. 1 temporarily into a dual use court for tennis and pickleball rather than the basketball court, and was in favor of the City’s suggestion for short term and long term goals, looking to approve only the resurfacing and court conversions in this meeting to get those implemented and for lighting and other remaining improvements to be addressed with the Cays Park Master Plan. Counilmember Donovan agreed with focusing on those short term projects now to satisfy as many people as possible until the Master Plan creates a more permanent solution.

Councilmembers Sandke and Tanaka mentioned they would be okay with temporarily turning the basketball court into a half court to accommodate more pickleball courts, citing tennis player’s concerns with the noise and finding this a temporary solution that would keep pickleball players in the same vicinity and keep courts No. 1-4 strictly as tennis courts. Councilmember Tanaka also reiterated feedback heard from both tennis and pickleball players on May 3 that dual line courts was not a viable option for them.

Multiple motions were made that failed to get a majority of Council votes before a final motion was made and passed unanimously. This motion accepts the staff recommendations regarding resurfacing the Cays Park courts, converting court No. 5 into four permanent pickleball courts, and to temporarily make court No. 1 (currently out of use by either sport due to the condition of the soft top court) a dedicated pickleball space with a goal to have a new dedicated pickleball space created in the northern section of the Cays Park with the Cays Park Master Plan project and be able to return court No. 1 to be a permanent tennis court.

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