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Past Updates

6/24 Walnut Progress

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5/28/24

TEMPORARY COURTS AT REDWOOD

 

With the Walnut courts now under construction…

* Chalk lines for pickleball have been installed on the Redwood tennis court.  

* The court space is a shared community space. 

* Use of this tennis court space is designated as “first come first served” for court sports.  

* The chalked  pickleball courts should only be used if the 4 permanent pickleball courts are full. 

 

These temporary courts :

* Require portable nets.  

* We are hoping that those who own nets will bring them to share, especially during peak play times. 

* Bringing your portable net DOES NOT give preferential use of a court. 

 

A second paddle rack has been installed on the tennis court side. 

* If the permanent pickleball courts are full, the paddle rack on the tennis court side is to be used for the chalked courts. 

* Established/posted “paddle rack rotation”rules apply. 

* This second rack is only for the chalked courts and operates independently from the permanent court rack. 

 

Please help with set-up and take down of portable nets, especially if people are leaving and taking their nets.

 

Eight Walnut courts are expected to be completed in late August, but the schedule is subject to change. Let’s all work together to politely and peacefully share courts during the remodeling period. 

 

Note: there are also pickleball court line overlays on tennis courts at Covell and Slide Hill parks.  (FYI: The center strap needs to be brought down about 6 - please try to remember to reset the net height when done playing). These are shared courts and should rotate when players are waiting. 

 

Peace 

Love

Pickleball

 

5/15/24

 

Hey all, good news. The contract for “rehabilitating” the Walnut courts has been awarded and demolition will probably start near the end of May. The project will likely be completed mid-summer. 8 pickleball courts will be the final result at the Walnut location. More to come.

5/1/24

 

Redwood court changes:

In an experiment to improve traffic flow at the busy Redwood court, the paddle rack has been moved next to the south gate. The equipment/bag racks have also been relocated. 

 

Hopefully this will reduce congestion at the center of the west courts and encourage players to wait outside the gate.

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Update 11/1/22

Davis United Pickleball Players Fall Update

 

Hi All -

 

It’s been a busy summer since our last update for Davis United Pickleball Players…so here we go, 0-0-2

 

Court updates

Redwood  Park - new windscreens have been ordered for the west side (park side without hedge). Thanks to everyone who contributed via several tournaments/round robins as well as direct contributions. Look for these to be up in a few weeks - just in time for a windy winter season.

 

Walnut Park - new nets have been requested from the City for courts 1 & 2 (south side bordering the dog park). The north side nets were replaced last spring and are in good condition. Rumor has it that Walnut Park will be renovated in the spring of 2023, but this is subject to change - more on this as details emerge.

 

Rating versus Ranking

There’s been a lot of activity in Davis around “ranking”. Ranking is about scores, whereas Rating is about skills.

 

A ranking is an accumulation of a player’s match scores relative to other players. 

 

As the pickleball world grows so does the ability for pickleball commerce to flourish.  Ranking is one of the ways.  

 

There are many ways to keep track of player ranking.  We actually successfully did it in our first Round Robins, using a custom spreadsheet specifically designed for that purpose.  

 

The process requires scores to be reported and someone to accumulate scores and calculate them using an algorithm. There are many ways to do this.  In order to increase YOUR ranking you must win consistently against players at or above YOUR ability to do the same (and report your scores).

 

This is where commerce takes advantage of our obsession to play pickleball.  There are several proprietary ranking systems competing for pickleball market share (your eyeballs via advertising and your wallet for products/services/subscriptions). 

 

Rating” is different. 

 

Rating is about skill level.  It assesses how well, on a consistent basis, you do things like dink, make third shot drops, and know where to be on the court. We have accumulated links below for sheets that are intended for self-rating of skills.  These can be used to create an improvement plan for your own drills, or with an instructor.

 

To understand the rating criteria and rubric better see: https://www.davispickleball.rocks/team-3. This also contains a link to the USPA (United States Pickleball Association) assessment forms mentioned above, which give more insight into the rating process: https://www.davispickleball.rocks/team-1-1

 

Cinderella Tournament Winners

We ran a fun “Cinderella” tournament beginning in April. It was called a Cinderella event, as the players were blindly matched with their partners by choosing a colored (virtual) shoe.

 

We followed the City guidelines for the courts to be a public space and available at any time. This meant that it took us a while to finish the event due to Covid, vacation/work schedules and occasional hot weather….

 

Congratulations to Dan Moglen and Dave Lewis, the overall winners. For a complete list of winners see: https://www.davispickleball.rocks/about-3-3

 

Court Use Policy

One of the goals that Davis United Pickleball Players has taken on is to work with the City to navigate the development of common etiquette and guidelines for fair use of the City’s public pickleball courts.  

 

Complaints of inequitable court use were made to the City Parks and Recreation Director in 2019. The use of the Walnut courts were stressed at the time of the multi court remodel (and Covid), which made it evident that a “use“ guideline framework was necessary.

 

Our aim was to provide simple, clear and manageable guidelines that would stand on their own and take into consideration the needs of the players and the City.  

 

The people involved with the complaints were consulted, guidelines were posted and socialized through our mailing list, on the courts through coaching and on our website.

 

Our pickleball community has recently experienced further extraordinary growth which is in line with the national and worldwide trend. This growth is putting additional pressure on the use of our courts. 

 

The city approved “use” guidelines still work well. They are not perfect, but they allow serious and recreational players to co-exist.  

 

WAPA

FYI. Our neighbors in Woodland now also have a pickleball non-profit group, Woodland Area Pickleball Association.  They recently held a wonderful mixer and a gala to fundraise for more pickleball facilities. Congratulations, and we look forward to their growth and success.

 

Final Note

Davis United Pickleball Players remains the only non-profit in the Davis community. We continue to:

  • raise funds for projects such as windscreens

  • work with the City officials 

  • work with other interested court use parties (such as the Davis Tennis Club)

 

Our goal remains to enable the fun, challenge, positive social engagement and exercise of a sport that we love.

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Update 4/6/22

Just a short update on a few things.

 

Windscreen at Redwood Park (north fence) - our screen arrived, but there was a delay installing due to an issue with the chain link sizing on the new fence. Thanks to our installers. Looks good! 

 

 

 

Benches at Redwood Park - We’ve asked the City for benches to be installed at Redwood Park outside the court under the redwood trees. No timeframe yet, but it’s on someone’s “to do” list now.

 

New nets at Walnut - we’ve been pestering the City to replace the nets…there’s a limit to how much duct tape and zip ties will do. Good news is that the nets have arrived and should be up this week.

 

Trees have been trimmed at Walnut

Trees on the dog park side of the Walnut courts have been sufficiently trimmed back so that less debris will fall on to the courts.

 

Court resurfacing at Walnut - in the early planning stage. Best guess is that it will be sometime in 2023….

 

Court etiquette signs at Walnut & Redwood - same etiquette guidelines, but new & improved all-weather signs. 

 

Round Robin - roughly 50% of the games have been completed - keep those scores coming in.

 

Dual purpose courts- play time change

Tennis courts with a pickleball overlay at Slide Hill Park and North Covell Park have had a playtime limit change. The time is to be changed from 1 hour to 1.5 hours when any players are waiting to use a court.  The City will post new signs to reflect the change. Please be courteous and play for only an hour and half when either pickleball or tennis folks are waiting.

 

You can also refer waiting tennis players to the tennis-only City courts which are located at:

  • Chestnut Park – 2 

  • Redwood Park – 1

  • Walnut Park – 5 

  • West Manor Park – 1

  • Pioneer Park – 2 

  • Davis High School

 

Donations - Thanks to everyone who donated $$. These funds are used to support the website, add windscreens and more.

Update 1/17/22

The new courts at Redwood Park, Slide Hill Park and Covell Park have been busy. The new surfaces are better in damp conditions than the Walnut courts. There has been some bubbling and peeling of the surface however - the City says this will be repaired in the Spring. Notifications of closures will be posted at that time.

The court lights at Redwood Park are installed and just waiting on PG&E( as per the City).

 

We have some funds available from a fundraising drive 3 years ago and are getting a windscreen for the north side of the Redwood Park courts. This side has the prevailing winds and it will also screen the Cesar Chavez Elementary School students from the court while providing a better backdrop, (sorry it won’t help the smell 🙃). Expect to see the screen in the next month or so. This project is being done in cooperation with the Davis Tennis Club.

 

Our website now includes a page for local tournaments and  Round Robins. Check it out at 

 

We also plan to start a round robin ladder format for Davis United Pickleball Players in the spring. Players will be organized into groups and can move “up or down” between groups based on their cumulative record. More to come on this soon.

 

Finally, some numbers. Our roster has grown to over 230 members at the time. That’s nearly a 4X growth since its start. The WhatsApp chat continues to grow as well - over 130 participants.

 

Reminder: Arranging a game on WhatsApp? 

Be sure to specify play time/day and specific court location. Also please try to keep chatter to “play arrangements” only. 

 

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Update 11/27/21

New courts at Redwood Park and refurbished courts at Covell and Slide Hill parks are finally open.

 

Redwood Park - 4 dedicated pickleball courts. 1001 Anderson Road

Lights pending PG&E hook-up (no estimate on when this will be completed).

Parking: street parking across the street or just south of the courts. Also available on Linden Lane (there is a path to get through to the park). Weekends and after school hours at Caesar Chavez School.

 

Covell Park - 300 Del Oro Avenue – Tennis and pickleball lines (overlay). 

The tennis net is higher than pickleball, so use a strap to reduce the height to 34 inches.

 

Slide Hill Park - 1525 Tulip Lane – Tennis and pickleball lines (overlay). 

The tennis net is higher than pickleball, so use a strap to reduce the height to 34 inches.

 

Arranging a game on WhatsApp? Be sure to specify where you are intending to play.

DUPP update 9/28/21
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The Redwood Park courts continue to make progress. New fences are going up. New lights are in place. Posts for nets are in the ground. 
DUPP update 11/3/21

It’s almost time for new courts

 

Hey pickleballers,

 

Two years ago the City Council approved Phase 1 to renovate courts around Davis and add 4 new pickleball courts at Redwood Park. The courts at Slide Hill Park and Covell Park are done, and the City is targeting completion of Redwood Park in the next few days (with final light hookup TBD).

 

City Councilmembers, Recreation & Park Commissioners, construction and city staff will be present to officially re-open the courts on Saturday, November 6. The grand re-opening schedule for pickleball:

 

9 am  Slide Hill Park, 1525 Tulip Lane – Tennis and pickleball lines (overlay)

          

10:30 am  Covell Park, 300 Del Oro Avenue – Tennis and pickleball lines (overlay)

 

11:15 am Redwood Park, 1001 Anderson Road – 4 new PB courts on West side

           

If Slide Hill or Covell Park is your preferred court please show up and celebrate by playing some pickleball at the event. 

 

If you’re usually a Walnut Park player, come out and show your support at 11:15. Bring a paddle! Let’s show them that these courts (and more) are needed in Davis.

laying the asphalt 9/11

DUPP update 9/14/21

It’s starting to cool off and the courts have been busy. We have successfully stretched the access to our Walnut Park courts. The courts have been and are still being used, very often to capacity. 

 

Credit to:

  • chalk lines holding up 

  • use of our DUPP portable net 

  • generous pickleball players who have shared their own portable nets 

  • everyone’s mindfulness, consideration and respect for other players’ court rights

 

The new courts at Redwood Park are resurfaced (see pictures), courts at Covell and Slide Hill parks are making progress. There’s no firm date for completion, but a guess is late October given the progress to date. More to come as we get updates from the City. 

 

Renovations to Walnut Park courts are in the City plan, but awaiting budget approval. Best guess is that this project is at least a year away. As we get closer to that budget approval we’ll lobby the City for more courts, again.

 

Our roster has 181 people on it now, an increase of 80% during the past 18 months. Our “WhatsApp” chat group for scheduling and quick communication is now over 100 people. 

 

We’re growing as a community and having fun at the same time. Pat yourselves on the back! 

asphalt curing 9/14

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Long awaited update for the Davis Pickleball community.

 

As we come out of the pandemic it is clear that the pickleball community has grown over the past year. This has put stress on our court capacity, especially during peak times. There are several things happening to address this situation:

Walnut Court 5: 

  • We have negotiated with the City to make Walnut Court 5 a fair use, shared space for pickleball/tennis. 

  • The city has okayed the 

    • use of chalk lines to enable two pickleball courts for use with portable nets. 

    • Installation of a storage locker for these nets. 

    • (Please stay tuned for Installation date and net use process)

  • Use of Court 5 is “first come, first served” for both pickleball and tennis users. 

  • While this is a temporary agreement (until new courts are built, see #2 below), we hope that it will be extended.

  • Please treat all users with respect, remembering always that this is a shared public court.

 

Redwood Park :

  • The City has received bids to construct 4 new dedicated pickleball courts at Redwood Park (next to Chavez Elementary School on Anderson Boulevard). Groundbreaking is scheduled for this summer. There is street parking available during school hours, and a convenient lot available during other times.

Covell Park and Silde Hill: 

  • Covell Park and Silde Hill park courts will be resurfaced this summer and lined for dual tennis and pickleball use (as they are lined today).

 

Other Items of Note:

During the pandemic, Pickleball court users, in an attempt to adhere to City Use guidelines,  resorted to playing in pre-arranged groups, sometimes referred to as “private games.” This use practice and the growing interest in the sport has resulted in heavy use of the Walnut pickleball courts.  

The official posted City policy is to limit continuous court use to 1 hour when all courts are in use. 

In an attempt provide fair court use access to as many players as possible, limits on court use time during “peak use”(all courts in use) is being adopted. 

 

Please refer to the following “Davis Pickleball Community Court Etiquette”:

New signage is posted as follows:

    

Davis Pickleball Community Court Etiquette 

Play time limit of court use: 

  • Continuous play on a court is limited to 1 hour if the courts are full. 

  • After 1 hour “Pre arranged groups” may rotate in 

    • on a game-by-game basis 

    • as individuals or a group.

  • Respect everyone’s right to play

 

Growing Davis United Pickleball Players Community

Our community has grown significantly over the past year.

Help grow the sport in Davis by encouraging all Davis pickleball players to register with Davis United Pickleball Players, and be coming part of our roster.

Growing our registered pickleball player roster, is the best way to show the City the size of the pickleball community and the need to support our active citizens with more facilities.

 

You may choose to be a vocal or silent member of the group, but as we come out of the pandemic we need to hit the “restart button” on our group’s organization with the selection of a formal Board of Directors and and yes, fundraising for future facilities and other needs. More to come on this shortly.

 

 

Come out and join us, learning, playing, socializing, staying healthy.

DUPP update 5/8/21

Davis United Pickleball Players

March 8, 2021

note to city and response (below)

Begin forwarded message:

From: Davis United Pickleball Players <davisunitedpickleballplayers@gmail.com>

Subject: Pickleball court renovations

Date: March 8, 2021 at 12:14:07 PM PST

To: Dale Sumersille <dsumersille@cityofdavis.org>, citycouncilmembers@cityofdavis.org, Michael Webb <cmoweb@cityofdavis.org>, rpc@cityofdavis.org

Cc: chrispeterr@me.com

 

Greetings and best wishes for health during these difficult times,

 

Eighteen months ago the City Council voted to restore the existing pickleball courts and add 4 new courts. No doubt the pandemic has impacted the construction schedule, but it has also increased demand for this sport.

 

In September 2019 we stressed the rapid growth and popularity of the sport. Today we still don’t have more courts and the demand has skyrocketed. The Walnut Park courts have waiting lists nearly every evening, weekend morning and even some weekday mornings. As an example - on March 4, 2021, between 4:30-6:30 PM we had 30 people desiring to play pickleball on just four courts (which support a maximum of 16 people at one time, providing everyone is playing doubles). As we emerge from the pandemic the lack of courts for Davis pickleball players will become even more frustrating.

 

Wet courts due to untrimmed trees on the south side of Walnut have further limited court availability. Given the limited number of courts, players use these despite the dampness and slickness of the shaded courts - luckily this has resulted only minor injuries to date.

 

The City’s 2019 decision to add 4 courts to Redwood Park had two drawbacks:

  • First, in an effort to maintain space around the tennis court sufficient to meet tennis regulations, we understand it added appropriately $100,000 to the project cost. This cost is greater than the benefit of the USTA grants the City expects to receive. Does this make fiscal sense?

  • Second, these courts will not have adequate lighting for evenings, so they won’t address the pressing need during the busiest time of every day for pickleball.

It’s understood that there has been significant effort put into the planning process to date. With apologies, we suggest that it is time to revisit the decisions made 18 months ago which are the basis for those plans. 

 

The court construction and renovation has been delayed and pickleball players’ needs have exploded. The City should reconsider a flawed compromise plan which no longer serves the community’s needs. Further, there needs to be transparency with the community as to the specifics and sequencing of renovations before bids are requested and a bid is sent to Council for approval.

 

Pickleball draws Davis citizens from all ages. We get families playing together. We get groups of high school and college students. We get a growing group from the Davis Women’s Farm Circle who now keep two courts full several mornings each week. We get current and former tennis players as well as people who have never played a court sport.  All are active citizens striving for a healthy lifestyle while maintaining current social distancing and health protocols. 

 

As always, we invite you to come to the courts and see what’s going on firsthand. Thank you for your consideration - we look forward to continued dialogue. 

 

Davis United Pickelball Players

 

Sunday 3-7-21 11:40 AM

All PB courts full. 20 players present including 4 waiting. No tennis courts in use.

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From: Christine Helweg <CHelweg@cityofdavis.org>

Subject: CIP 8315 - Court Resurfacing Project

Date: March 9, 2021 at 11:14:04 AM PST

To: "'davisunitedpickleballplayers@gmail.com'" <davisunitedpickleballplayers@gmail.com>, "'chrispeterr@me.com'" <chrispeterr@me.com>

Cc: City Council Members <CityCouncilMembers@cityofdavis.org>, "Recreation and Park Commission" <RPC@cityofdavis.org>, Mike Webb <MWebb@cityofdavis.org>, Dale Sumersille <DSumersille@cityofdavis.org>, "Barbara Archer" <BArcher@cityofdavis.org>

 

Good morning Davis Pickleball Players -

 

I wanted to provide you with some additional information regarding the Court Resurfacing project for Chestnut, Covell, Redwood, and Slide Hill tennis courts.  The Project Consultant has submitted 100% design plans to the City for final review and approval. City staff has approved the revised design plans, and has been working on the contract book in preparation for the project to go out to public bid.  The project is set to be released for bid by the end of this week, with construction anticipated to begin in early spring.  Phase II of the project is anticipated to be completed in FY2022-23 if funding remains available.

 

City staff is pleased to hear that the number of Pickleball players has increased and that the program remains strong and thriving through this past year.  Although the court resurfacing project will not meet all the needs of your organization, it still will have a positive impact for the community by increasing the number of Pickleball courts available for play at any given time.  The City is committed to working with its local sports organizations to improve upon playing conditions at City facilities and to prioritize the many competing demands with its limited resources.   

 

The Walnut Park court lighting is currently being repaired by the City’s Public Works Department.  Several parts had to be ordered for the lights, and the work is anticipated to be completed this coming Thursday.  Two of the existing tennis courts will have the nets removed in order to get the equipment into the complex and repair the lights.

 

A work request has also been submitted for the trimming of the trees on the south end of the courts, but as you can imagine, the work crews have been very busy with clean up from the recent storm and wind debris.  As this clean-up is completed, work crews will be able to resume regular tree trimming and address the overhang over the courts. 

 

I hope that this information is helpful for you to relay to your participants, and please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns. 

 

 

 

Christine Helweg, CPRP

Status Update 2/21/19

 

All - I’m sending this out to this limited group who attended our kick-off meeting or provided input due to conflicting schedules. If we feel it’s warranted, we can post to the website…please provide feedback.

 

We set some action items and priorities at our last meeting. Here’s an update on the actions:

 

  1. Look at other clubs’ rules, structure, etc. (Priority: A)

    1. Collate research from various people (Duncan, Georgene, Nancy, Sandie, Scott, Tom) -

UPDATE: work in process. We probably need a leader on this action item.

  1. By 3/1: Scott and Georgene meet with Davis Tennis Club (DTC) President

    1. Dues

    2. Structure

    3. Organization

    4. Membership benefits

    5. Relationship with City

UPDATE: John Cook, Georgene and I met with Kelli O’Neill on 2/13. She gave us a good overview of the DTC program. We discussed synergies with DTC as well as some of the negative attitudes. 

We discussed DTC court preferences with respect to upcoming court renovations.

Kelli is open to making some changes with some limitations. DTC understands that pickleball needs more courts. DTC really wants Covell, Pioneer and Manor courts for tennis. She said that the upcoming City Council meeting is for budget approval, but not a court deployment plan per se. That will be up to the Parks & Rec staff and commission (this was confirmed by Dale @ Parks & Rec). However, she cautioned that the plan is well underway, so we need to move quickly if we want to recommend changes.

We discussed potential synergies between our communities. We said we were going to launch a survey - she agreed that this is a powerful tool in influencing the City. We said we would share the survey results with Kelli.

Kelli sent us copies of their by-laws following the meeting.

  1. John Cook: 501(c)3 paperwork (Priority: B)

UPDATE: John has done a preliminary review of the process, which requires approval by the State of California and the IRS. It will take at least 4 months at a potential cost of about $800.

  1. Derin and Scott: City of Davis reconnaissance/strategy (Priority: A)

UPDATE: Scott and John made short presentations to the Parks & Rec Commission on 2/20 describing the survey, stressing the need for more courts, and discussing Adult Education/Recreation programs we can cooperate with the City on in the future.

Dale confirmed the budget and planning process, and said infrastructure improvements will span over 2 years. The priority cue is TBD. She said the Mayor liked the idea of Slide Hill, but she was open to discussion.

Meeting with Dale scheduled for 2/28 to further these discussions.

  1. Liane and Sandie: Explore daily play communication options (Priority: B)

UPDATE: What’sApp was launched and has had good adoption. Instructions have been posted to the new website: https://www.davispickleball.rocks/coming-together)

  1. Dave and Jared: Explore local indoor facilities options (Priority: B)

UPDATE: Jared reports that the Morman Church gym is too small.

  1. Explore membership fee possibilities (one-time, annual, lifetime, etc.) (Priority: B)

  2. Explore working with local schools as volunteers to further the sport (Priority: C)    

UPDATE: John Cook has contacted Davis Adult Education to see if they can set up (a) a beginning pickleball class (b) indoor open play for $$

Notes from meeting with Davis Parks & Recreation

Date: February 26, 2019

Attendees: Dale Sumersille, Scott Adler, Liane Torricer-Adler, John Cook

 

Things discussed

  1. A description of the new initiative by Davis pickleball players to form a participatory and representative group.

  2. The group’s concerns

    1. That knowledge of it’s image and the needs of the Davis diverse pickleball community was not accurate

    2. The information that was available had not been assembled in a systematic way,

    3. Reviewed the survey information with Dale

      1. This information included:

        1. 43 responses to date

        2. Where do people live

          1. 81.4% of the respondents live in Davis.

          2. 11.6% Woodland.

          3. 7% other locations.

        3. Weekends and nights are peak periods for court congestion.

          1. 81% play on weekend

          2. 70% play on weekdays

          3. 40% at night

        4. The average is 2.6 sessions per week,

          1. with a high of 6 sessions and a low of 0.

        5. Walnut is the most popular location: 67%

          1. Covell: 38%

          2. Woodland Senior Center: 33%

        6. New court location preference:

          1. Redwood Park: 53%

          2. Slide Hill: 24%

          3. No preference: 19%

        7. Pickleball Group membership:

          1. 79% would join

          2. 65% would be willing to pay membership

          3. 19% would not join

        8. Pickleball Group membership:

          1. 79% would join

          2. 65% would be willing to pay membership

          3. 19% would not join

        9. Tennis questions:

          1. 74% have played tennis,

          2. 9% are current tennis players

  3. Outreach had been made to the Davis Tennis Club (DTC)

    1. Result was a positive dialog about the complementary goals and interests of both sports.

    2. Further, DTC agrees that pickleball needs more courts and is willing to work with us on compromise solutions.

    3. US Tennis Association’s (USTA) recent acknowledgement of pickleball supports our view that pickleball is a natural evolution of players who can no longer play tennis due to physical strain, but want to remain active.

    4. Orange ball/youth-size tennis court (which is slightly longer and narrower than a pickleball court without a kitchen line) is something USTA is pushing to encourage the introduction to more young tennis players.

  4. Dale’s understanding of the current state of pickleball in Davis.

    1. Her comments:

      1. There is a competitive group at Walnut (she described as “Katie’s group”) and another group at Covell.

    2. Our response:

      1. The group represents the general community of pickleball players across the current locations

      2. There are all levels of players at Walnut

      3. There is growing day and night participation at Walnut. Peak periods are weekend mornings, Monday and Thursday nights (often more than 30 player on 4 courts)

    3. The culture of pickleball is different from tennis - it’s not accurate to think of us as “tennis lite.”

      1. Faster games

      2. Rotating partners

      3. More social

        1. Frequent out-of-town drop-ins fostered by welcoming culture everywhere pickleball is played.

        2. Brings in commerce with players gathering for meals in town after games.

  5. The benefits of forming a non-profit for the group

    1. Enables execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City.

      1. Allow the group to decide and post (with City’s approval)

        1. Restriction of court use during designated times (without special arrangements)

          1. Open play hours

          2. League and other organized play times

        2. Rules could include

          1. Court etiquette

          2. Rotation

          3. Other items we deem important.

  6. We need more space

    1. Dale noted

      1. Slide Hill is the plan to meet our needs

    2. We noted

      1. The need for lights on new court space(as identified in survey), which Slide HIll does not currently provide.

      2. Slide Hill does not provide geographic diversity (i.e. no courts in Central or West Davis)

        1. Covell is the only court on the West side of town and it is in bad shape

      3. We are currently maxing out 2 nights each week and there is interest in expanding to additional nights. Due to work schedules, this is important recreation time for these people.   

      4. Adding lights to the Slide Hill park plan

        1. Dale will get an estimate for lights at Slide Hill.

        2. Dale noted

          1. There is no money in the budget for lights

          2. Would require fundraising on our part

          3. Potential neighborhood concerns: studies will need to be done

          4. Planning and other approvals could be needed​​​​​

  7. The suggestion of Redwood Park

    1. Dale noted

      1. Concerns about parking

      2. Update from Dale: DJUSD uses the courts during and after school hours

    2. We noted

      1. There are similar concerns about parking at Slide Hill, especially during the summer when the pool is open.

      2. Parking at Redwood is generally an issue only during the school drop-off and pick-up times (8:30 AM and 3:00 PM).

      3. There is a 5-8 car 90 minute parking area directly in front of the courts

      4. No parking restrictions across the street

      5. Approximately at least 10-15 car non-restricted parking on Linden Lane with a park entrance path.

      6. The school is only open 180 days a year.

      7. Our peak times are nights and weekends - this minimizes the parking issue.

    3. Dale noted

      1. Redwood has “backyard” lighting that is not adequate.

    4. We noted

      1. Upgrading existing lights might be easier and cheaper than installing lights from “scratch” at Slide Hill

      2. Light ordinance, and neighborhood studies have probably already been done (i.e. grandfathered) at Redwood since it is already an lighted, activity area..

  8. Indoor courts in Davis would be desirable since many people play at Woodland or other indoor courts (Vacaville, Folsom, Rocklin, Elk Grove…)

    1. We asked about the City Hall gym

    2. She advised us that the gym recently suffered a roof malfunction and is now in need of a new roof, which will unfortunately take funds from the recreation “repair/replace” budget

  9. Discussed Walnut Court 5

    1. Walnut courts will be re-built as part of Phase 2? (see below)

    2. This will include converting Court 5 to a “sport court”:

    3. Lines for Orange Ball Youth court on top of tennis lines (part of the DTC grant money)

    4. A backboard (possibly two) for practice

    5. We noted that a barrier would need to be placed next to court 5 so as to not interfere with pickleball - Dale agreed

  10. Offering beginner classes through the recreation department and adult education calendar.

    1. The group would provide instructors & equipment for short introduction to pickleball courses.

    2. There may be limitations to doing this: primarily insurance as we would be contractors providing the classes.


Things Dale shared

  1. The City Council is authorizing $1.25 million in funds across multiple phases.

    1. Phase 1 is “repair and replacement” of current court space

    2. Winter rains the gym have caused structural roof failure. It’s retrofit will now  be a part of this budget.

    3. The cost of one tennis court replacement is approx $120,000

    4. The cost of 4 Pickleball courts is approx $140,000

    5. Update from Dale: Davis Tennis Club and the City will submit an application for a $50,000 grant request from the USTA to promote youth tennis (this has not been done yet pending  the City Council approval for the Sport Court resurfacing court project phase 1).

    6. Because of this contribution, DTC has been a part of the planning of Phase 1

      1. Includes the resurfacing of courts in 8 locations

      2. 6 courts will be lined for both traditional and “junior tennis” (which is slightly longer and narrower than a pickleball court).

        1. One at Walnut

        2. One at Covell

    7. The schedule and order of court  “repair and replacement” work is not finalized.

    8. Construction expected to begin in late Fall 2019,

    9. The courts will not be ready for use before Spring 2020.

  2. City is hiring a consultant as part of the Sports Complex Task Force.

    1. This is an opportune time to add pickleball requirements to the plans.

      1. Dale has added the group to the list of Task Force interested parties

      2. Indoor youth basketball is a major driver for this Task Force.

      3. Dual lined pickleball and basketball courts were discussed

      4. Basketball and pickleball have complementary and non-conflicting use schedules during the school year.

 

Things Dale will get back to us on:

 

Slide Hill

  • Estimate for light installation

  • Requirements for neighborhood concerns studies,

planning and other approvals.

Offering beginner classes through the City

  • Requirements

 

Conclusion

  • We concluded the meeting by agreeing that this had been a positive productive dialog.

  • The group is in the process of organizing and we would be the near-term representatives of the group until further notice.

  • We emphasized that we are probably a little too small at this time to form a non-profit, but we have a “chicken and egg” problem. Without more courts it will be hard to expand our pickleball playing population.

  • Dale understands and said she looks forward to working with us.

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