By Tim Douglass

tdouglass@pctribune.com

The city will continue with the plan to convert the current tennis courts at City Park in Glenwood into permanent pickleball courts.  Commissioners took no action at last week’s meeting on a request to consider retaining at least one tennis court within the park.

The issue, which was decided last January, resurfaced at the first commission meeting in October when Glenwood resident Cody Bosek asked the commission to reconsider their decision and work with him to save at least one court for tennis at City Park.

“The way I understand it we can either do nothing tonight or make a motion one way or the other on the issue,” said Mayor Sherri Kazda. 

That’s when City Administrator Dave Iverson briefed the commission on its past action and how the city arrived at the decision to convert the two tennis courts at City Park into four permanent pickleball courts.  The plan also called for striping the basketball court and providing a temporary net so that it could be used as a pickleball court when needed. 

Iverson said the idea, which was brought before the commission by a number of pickleball enthusiasts, first resulted in taping the tennis courts for pickleball so the courts could be used for both.

Then, in January, after a large group of pickleball enthusiasts filled city hall, the commission formally approved the work and directed city staff to convert the courts to permanent pickleball courts, he said.  He provided the commission with a schematic of the plan and said “much to the chagrin” of pickleball players, the contractors were busy this summer and the work had not yet been completed.

“That’s where we were at when Cody Bosek made his statement to the commission,” Iverson said.

He said he had asked Bosek to bring a written request to save a tennis court to the meeting Wednesday night.

Bosek did do that and provided a written statement and a schematic of his plan to save a tennis court and was added to the agenda last Wednesday.  The commission, however, didn’t address that written statement specifically.  City hall was filled with pickleball enthusiasts and Bosek was also at the meeting.

It was pointed out at the meeting that the city did contact the tennis coach on the matter and Iverson said he had talked with the tennis coach numerous times before the city went ahead with the permanent pickleball courts.  He told commissioners that the school does not use the tennis courts for competition.  He didn’t know if the courts were used for any practices, but “to say that we didn’t contact the tennis coach is just unfair,” Iverson added.

Commissioner Donna Martin said she remembered talking about sharing the courts with pickleball and tennis players and Iverson said that was discussed in the early stages, but at the December, 2021 meeting the commission decided to pursue the permanent pickleball courts.  

Commissioner Mavis Pattee pointed out that the newspaper “is our mandated process” for getting information out and stated the issue was covered by the local newspaper both in print and online.  She also said that pickleball is increasingly popular and is being played by students in the elementary and high school levels and “becoming more and more of a sport to play.”

Martin also stated that the idea that having pickleball courts in the city would bring in visiting players and bring more people and revenue to the city.  “That also played a role in the decision to move to pickleball courts.”

Martin said she had talked with parents of tennis players and said she was told it was “really not up to the city to provide tennis for everyone.”  She said the parent said her kids could still use the courts when not being used by pickleball players and “hit some tennis balls around.”  

She also stated that parents would probably drive their kids to the school to play tennis.  “Driving is not an issue, every parent does it when it comes to sports,” she added.

City Attorney Troy Nelson cautioned the commission about changing the their decision on the pickleball courts, stating the city could be subject to some liability if “you go back on your word.” 

“At this point in the process I don’t think I could advise the commission to do that at this point in the construction process with contracts in place,” Nelson explained.

Commissioner Todd Gylsen said if the community really wants a tennis court they can do the “fundraising like the pickleball group and the splash pad committee did.”

Commissioner Neil Haynes said he concurred, stating that’s the best solution at this point for moving forward.  He reminded the commission that there was no money in the budget for a new tennis court.  

At that point, the commission did give Bosek a chance to respond.  

He asked why a new pickleball court at Barsness Park wasn’t pursued.  “Because it’s new construction and would cost much more,” he said, answering his own question.  He added that tennis courts are larger and would be even more expensive to construct new.  He estimated building tennis courts would cost in excess of $200,000.  He said his plan was to save one tennis court that could be a shared court with pickleball.

“This was an ideal situation for pickleball players because the courts were there and they just needed to drill a few holes,” he said.  Using the existing tennis courts provided them with pickleball courts “with minimal financial impact,” he said.

He also disagreed with Martin’s statement that the kids could just go there a hit a few balls around.  “As a parent I’m telling you my kids are not using the courts just to goof off there, they practice.”

“I’m not here tonight to pick a fight.  I’m here to get a fair shake,” Bosek told the commission.  “I’m here to try to find a way to work together in a true democratic way,” Bosek said.

Iverson said it may not be general knowledge, but he said he did work with the pickleball group months before the issue came to the city and said they looked at number of different sites for pickleball courts.  He said that looked at Barsness, City Park and behind the Minnewaska Area Elementary School.

“So, if it didn’t work for a pickleball court anywhere else, where would a new tennis court go?” Bosek asked.

He said that the city has amenities available for the pubic and questioned why they would take something away from kids instead of adding to what the city offers.  “Why not increase (those features) rather than reducing them?” he questioned.