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(1) Consideration of Various Complaints the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission has Received Regarding Racket Sports Courts in Culvers City; (2) Approval of Recommendations to City Staff or City Council in Response to the Complaints; (3) Consideration of Forming a PRCS Commission “Racket Sports Ad Hoc Subcommittee” to Complete a Specific Task; and, (4) If Desired, Appoint two PRCS Commission Members to the Newly Formed Ad Hoc Subcommittee.
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Meeting Date: July 22, 2024
Contact Person/Dept: Ted Stevens/ PRCS
Phone Number: (310) 253-6682
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: [X]
Public Notification: (E-mail) Meetings and Agendas - Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission (07/18/2024); (E-mail) Parks, Recreation & Community Service Department Updates (07/18/2024)
Department Approval: Ted Stevens, PRCS Director (07/18/2024)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) Commission (1) consider various complaints the PRCS Commission has received regarding racket sports courts in Culver City; (2) approve recommendations to City staff and City Council in Response to the complaints; (3) consider forming a PRCS Commission “Racket Sports Ad Hoc Subcommittee” to complete a specific task; and, (4) if desired, appoint two PRCS Commission Members to the newly formed Ad Hoc Subcommittee.
BACKGROUND
Tennis has origins that date back to the Ancient Mediterranean Period and was popularized by monks and the French court in the 11th and 12th Century. In 1873, modern tennis, as the game is played today, was invented when outdoor lawn tennis was adapted from the medieval version of the game. Pickleball and paddle tennis are both more recent variants from the game of tennis. In all three games, players on opposing sides of a court must lob a small ball beyond their opponent’s reach. They must hit it with a racket of some sort and the ball must touch within a predetermined boundary. Whereas the essence of the game is similar, the details, such as court dimensions, court layout, types of balls used, and the scoring system are different among the three sports.
Attachment 1 shows a visual representation of the three courts and how their layout and dimensions are different. Currently, Culver City has tennis courts and paddle tennis courts at Culver West Alexander Park, Fox Hills Park, Syd Kronenthal Park, and Veterans Memorial Park with an additional tennis court at Lindberg Park. Culver City does not have any pickleball courts.
Studies have shown that with dual stripping of layout, pickleball courts can fit within a paddle tennis court and tennis court. Attachment 2 shows a visual representation of how you can re-stripe a tennis court to fit 1, 2, or 4 pickleball courts on the tennis court.
At the June 7, 2022, PRCS Commission meeting, members of the public addressed the Commission about the popularity of the game of pickleball and requested that an agendized discussion be added to an upcoming meeting. A consensus was reached, and the item appeared on the agenda for the September 6, 2022, PRCS Commission meeting during which a Pickleball Court Implementation Feasibility Study Ad Hoc Subcommittee was created. The specific Ad Hoc Subcommittee was tasked to work with staff to create a survey for the users of the racket sports courts in order to gain insight from the community on how these courts can serve Culver City moving forward.
In order to inform the public of this survey, park signs with site specific QR codes to the online survey were posted at each of the five parks on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. In addition, a GovDelivery email with a link to the survey was sent on October 31, 2022. 8,287 postcards were mailed to the residents, owners, and businesses within a ½ mile radius of Culver West Alexander Park, Fox Hills Park, Lindberg Park, Syd Kronenthal Park, and Veterans Memorial Park on November 16, 2022. Multiple Nextdoor, Facebook and Instagram posts were done before and during the community survey period, which was from Friday, October 21 through midnight on Sunday, November 20, 2022. The public was informed that they could only complete the survey once. At the close of the survey period, 864 people had participated in the survey.
The response from the community was broken down as follows:
Within the survey, five (5) questions specifically asked participants if they would like changes to the tennis courts at each of the parks that offer them. Below is how the community responded:
Four (4) questions specifically asked participants if they would like changes to the paddle tennis courts at each of the parks that offer them. Below is how the community responded:
At the March 9, 2023, PRCS Commission meeting, the survey was discussed among the Commissioners, and it was voted unanimously to recommend to PRCS Staff to convert paddle tennis courts to a dual use court for paddle tennis and pickleball. The PRCS Commission decided to consider converting tennis courts at a future meeting.
At the April 2, 2024, PRCS Commission meeting, public comment was made by various residents near the Elenda Street paddle tennis courts. The comments included complaints of noise, foul language, disagreements, fighting, and public urination. These comments were referenced at the May 7, 2024, PRCS Commission meeting by Vice Chair Leonard, when she recommended forming an Ad Hoc Subcommittee to focus on public complaints at the racket sports courts. She mentioned that the tenor has changed among the players and many people feel they have not been heard by the City. At that time, consensus was met to agendize a discussion about racket court sports.
The discussion continued at the June 4, 2024, meeting when Commissioners questioned how to focus the agendized discussion during the agenda item A-5, approval of the PRCS Commission calendar and upcoming agenda item list. Instead of focusing on the problems at the courts, it was agreed upon by all Commissioners to focus on the types of meetings the Commissioners can have with the public in order to help better understand the issues between the players and make recommendations to City staff and City Council.
On July 2, 2024, the PRCS Commission at their regular meeting considered ways to hear and address complaints concerning the racket sports courts in Culver City. At that time, the PRCS Commissioners agreed to hold a Special Meeting.
DISSCUSSION
Based on the complaints received to date, the PRCS Commission can consider recommendations within the following categories:
Court Modifications
• Should Culver City consider dual stripes on its tennis courts?
• Should Culver City consider dual stripes on its basketball courts?
• Should the PRCS Commission reconsider its previous recommendation to dual stripe paddle tennis courts for pickleball use?
• Should Culver City install sound mitigation panels on some of its racket sports courts?
Times of Usage
• Should Culver City consider changing the times of usage of its racket courts?
• Should Culver City limit the times Pickleball can be played on courts near resident’s houses?
Operational Strategies
• Should Culver City utilize a reservation system for its racket courts?
• Should Culver City charge an individual to reserve a racket court?
These are a sample of discussion points for each category; different recommendations could come out of other talking points or from newer complaints received by the PRCS Commission.
In preparation for the special meeting, staff reached out directly to various cities in LA County and through the California Parks and Recreation Society. The goal is to give a rough picture of how other cities in the surrounding area and statewide oversee and run their racket courts. Staff focused on asking questions concerning the types of racket sports courts in each city, if they had tried dual striping their courts, if they had received any noise complaints and how did they handle the noise complaints. The cities that responded included Belmont, Beverly Hills, Fountain Valley, Gardena, Hawthorne, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Mission Viejo, Redondo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Santa Monica, Tustin, West Hollywood, and Yorba Linda. Attachment 3 lists the responses from each city.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
There is a Capital Improvement Project (CIP) account dedicated to resurfacing and restriping courts (41980000.730100.PZ640). Funds for this CIP is allocated from Culver City’s Park Facilities (419; Quimby) Fund and the CIP is dedicated to striping, resurfacing and restriping sport courts at all Culver City parks for sports that include tennis, paddle tennis, handball, and basketball. There is a second CIP account for the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget that contains $150,000 dedicated to sound proofing specific paddle tennis courts.
ATTACHMENTS
1. 2024-07-02- ATT 1 Racket Sports Striping Guides
2. 2024-07-02- ATT 2 Three Options for Striping Tennis Courts for Pickleball Play
3. 2024-07-22- ATT 3 Responses from Various Cities Concerning their Racket Courts
MOTION
That the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission:
1. Consider of various complaints the PRCS Commission has received regarding racket sports courts in Culver City;
2. Approval of recommendations to City staff or City Council in response to the complaints;
3. Consider forming a PRCS Commission “Racket Sports Ad Hoc Subcommittee” to complete a specific task; and,
4. If desired, appoint two PRCS Commission Members to the newly formed Ad Hoc Subcommittee.