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(1) Consideration of Various Ways the Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) Commission can Discuss Public Comment Concerning the Racket Sports in Culver City; (2) Consideration of Various Ways the PRCS Commission can Recommend to City Staff and City Council Resolutions for Issues with Racket Sports; (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 2, 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 (06/26/2024); (E-mail) Parks, Recreation & Community Service Department Updates (06/26/2024)
Department Approval: Ted Stevens, PRCS Director (06/21/2024)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) Commission (1) consider various ways the PRCS Commission can discuss public comment concerning the racket sports in Culver City; (2) consider various ways the PRCS Commission can recommend to City staff and City Council resolutions for issues with racket sports; (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 variants from the game of tennis. 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.
In 2019, PRCS staff were tasked to research surrounding cities concerning paddle tennis courts and pickleball courts, such as number of courts built, hours of operation, and classes offered. The cities who responded to requests for information were Beverly Hills, Carson, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, El Segundo, City of Los Angeles, Burbank, Pasadena, Manhattan Beach, and Hermosa Beach. Attachment 3 is the Interoffice Memorandum to Corey Lakin, the PRCS Director at that time, notifying him of the responses.
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.
DISCUSSION
There are a variety of ways that The PRCS Commission can discuss items specific to racket sports courts in Culver City. They include:
Agendize an Item at a Regular Meeting
Any commissioner can request an item be added to an agenda during a PRCS Commission meeting. This can be done during any action item, but it is most appropriate during the action item concerning the approval of the calendar and upcoming agenda item list. Once introduced, the item must receive a consensus of the PRCS Commissioners present to add it to the calendar. For any item that requires discussion, staff recommends that the item be brought to the entire PRCS Commission in order to allow all Commissioners to hear the item first-hand.
Hold a Special Meeting
Special Meetings fall outside of the regular schedule for PRCS Commission meetings. They are called at a specific time for a specific purpose and only the purpose for which they were called can be transacted at the meeting. Special Meetings must follow the Brown Act and an agenda must be released at least 24 hours in advance notifying the public of the meeting. Traditionally, Special Meetings are held for emergency circumstances for items that cannot be held for a future meeting.
Community Meeting
A community meeting, or town hall, is an open forum that allows members of the public to attend and voice opinions, thoughts, and concerns for the specific purpose of the meeting. Traditionally, the City calls community meetings to receive feedback on updates to the City infrastructure, such as transit regulations and facility construction, or for future planning, such as the General Plan Community Meetings. This type of meeting can not be called by the PRCS Commission as it is not in their purview. However, the PRCS Commission can request City staff to hold the meeting. In this instance, PRCS Commissioners can attend the meeting in accordance with Section Three of the Brown Act (Attachment 4), which allows for PRCS Commissioners to attend all community meetings but prohibits Commissioners from discussing any items of city business among themselves. Since the community meeting is held by City staff, it does not need to announce an agenda within a specific timeline. However, public notice should be given to allow for the largest turnout. In accordance with Culver City Policy 3002 (Attachment 5), any request from the PRCS Commission that requires the dedication of significant time and resources from PRCS Staff will only be performed with Department Head and/or City Manager approval. The required workload to hold a Community meeting would fall under this guidance.
Creating an Ad Hoc Subcommittee
An “ad hoc” subcommittee serves only a limited or single purpose. It is not perpetual, and it is dissolved when its specific task is completed. An Ad Hoc Subcommittee may be formed or dissolved at any Commission meeting, as long as the discussion has been placed on the Agenda in advance. Once an Ad Hoc Subcommittee has been created, updates are typically given by Members. At the request of the Ad Hoc Subcommittee a separate Agenda Item is sometimes prepared and presented on a specific Ad Hoc Subcommittee’s topic or event. Only two members of the PRCS Commission are allowed on an Ad Hoc Subcommittee at any given time to avoid a quorum and causing the Ad Hoc Subcommittee meeting to turn into a Special Meeting of the PRCS Commission. Unless necessary, staff recommends that the PRCS Commission always consider bringing an item in front of the entire PRCS Commission instead of creating an Ad Hoc Subcommittee to discuss it.
Draft Memo to City Council
In accordance with Culver City Policy 3002, each Commission, Board, and Committee in Culver City acts in an advisory capacity to the City Council. PRCS Commission, in this capacity, can draft and approve a memo to City Council giving recommendations on policies, procedures, rules, and/or regulations on any topic within the jurisdiction of PRCS. With this memo, PRCS Commission can request changes made to the racket sports courts, to rules of the parks pertaining to racket sports courts, and/or express concern for the complaints given to the PRCS Commission during Public Comment and eComment.
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. 2024-07-02- ATT 3 2019 Interoffice Memorandum Sharing Nearby City Pickleball Research
4. 2024-07-02- ATT 4 Summary of Brown Act
5. 2024-07-02- ATT 5 CC Policy 3002_Commisssions Boards and Committees
MOTION
That the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission:
1. Consider various ways the PRCS Commission can discuss public comment concerning the racket sports in Culver City;
2. Consider various ways the PRCS Commission can recommend to City staff and City Council resolutions for issues with racket sports;
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.