New Court Update

We met with Wendell today to look at the finished plans for the courts. The plans look great! They are building all 24 courts. 4 of the courts will sunken 3 feet below ground level. The sunken courts will give outstanding viewing and be used for medal matches. This is a first in the pickleball world. As we requested, all courts will be individually fenced with 4 ' fencing. The courts will all have 7' from sideline to fence and 10' from baseline to fence. This is a big improvement from our current courts. The west side of our courts are close to the softball field. This fence will be a 10' chain link fence. If foul balls from softball become an issue Palm Creek will look at installing a net to prevent balls from leaving the softball field. There are plenty of water outlets for drinking faucets, misting systems and court cleaning. There are also plenty of electrical outlets for running tournaments, ball machines and other power equipment. Internet access is available at the courts. We will be able to do real time tournament result updates at the court. I also want to install web cameras at the courts. I'd love to be able to go to the web cam page and be able to see who is playing at the courts. It would also be nice to be able to see if weather is impacting play. Is it too windy or too wet. We are also getting 3 areas to for storage. We can use these for bag holders or storage sheds. There is a separate pavilion area just for pickleball. We get our very own spot with tables, chairs and shade. There are bathrooms and a snack shack at the north end of the courts. Plans are being made for shade along the main corridors where we sit between matches.

We discussed court colors and court speed. Many of you that have played on the new courts at Robson have commented how much you like the court surface there. You like the way it plays and you like the way it looks. We asked that our court surface be identical to the Robson courts. Their courts have blue playing field with green kitchens and out-of-bounds. Their court speed is medium. The speed refers to how fast a ball comes off the surface and is controlled by the amount of silica sand that is mixed in with the acrylic surface coating. The same contractor that did Robson is doing our courts. He will be able to duplicate the surface very easily.
There is so much to like about our new courts but there were a couple of things that didn't get in the plan. Only 8 of the courts will have lighting to start. The budget on this project started at $250,000 and is currently at $500,000. There was no more room in the budget for more lighting. The infrastructure for lighting the other 16 courts will be installed when the cement is poured. Wire chases and poles will be in place when we are able to afford to light more courts. We discussed the possibility of doing some club fund raisers to help with the lighting costs. Wendell is very open to that. Some of our gates also became a victim of the budget. The number of entrance gates was reduced so there is some walking thru courts to access back courts. We made suggestions on how to increase the number of gates. I believe we will get more gates than are currently in the plan.
I am very excited about this plan. We will have a one of a kind facility in the pickleball world. Palm Creek is to be commended for the effort and money they are putting into pickleball. They believe that pickleball is a key part of attracting new residents and backed that belief with a great facility. The plan for construction is to pour concrete at the end of May or early June. The concrete will need to cure before the surface coat is applied. The surface will be applied in October and be ready to play November 1st.
I'll furnish more updates whenever we have new information.

Mark Nelson
President Palm Creek Pickleball Club