Surprise City Pickleball Courts Status
Last update: 02/23/2008
2/14/2007
The Surprise city council unanimously passed a resolution to move the Pickleball venue back to the Racquet Complex. Meetings are scheduled with the city to examine options to mitigate any sound impact that Pickleball might have on Tennis. That could be any kind of material that might be applied to the sides of the Pickleball courts closest to the Tennis courts. Open bids must be open for at least 90 days before a contractor can be selected. The plans and location of the courts have already been established. They will be South of the Tennis courts and East of the Dream Catcher Park. Because of other governmental requirements and procedures the courts will most likely be completed in December or January, 2009. We are working with the city to determine if we can modify Tennis courts for use in the USAPA National Open Tournament scheduled for November, 2007. We should know the answer to that by March 17.
2/7/2007
In November 2007 the City Council voted to move the Pickleball Courts to Surprise Farms. We requested a meeting with City Manager Jim Rumpeltis, Mark Coronado and Councilman Joe Johnson to discuss various issues, including the noise question. We also requested that the Council reconsider the move to Surprise Farms.
During a second meeting Joe indicated that he would welcome Pickleball to the Racquet Complex. He requested Mayor Truett to add an item the the next Council meeting to consider a move back to the Complex. We expect that to be voted on during the February 14th Council meeting. I think there is an excellent chance that it will pass. All things considered, our game will get considerably more public exposure at the complex. Also, there are many more amenities there. We also feel that this move is definitely in the best interest of our city.
In any event, it doesn't look like the courts will be completed in time for the USAPA National Tournament this coming November. More likely, it will be December or January. The court layout, and the location are established but there are a lot of things to get done before the actual construction can begin. Open bids, contracts, etc. will take time. The $450,000 cost is already funded.
In the meantime, Mark Coronado has converted 2 Tennis courts to 8 Pickleball courts for temporary use until they are taken out to be replaced by a skateboard park. These will open first come-first serve to the public at no cost. We will be using them to train high school students and other Surprise residents. We are also planning a high school tournament there.
If a test of removable line paint is successful the city will likely convert 8 of the Tennis courts to 16 Pickleball courts to use for the National tournament. The city would also be very active in promoting the event and might be able to help in finding a local sponsor to help finance the event.
It's been a long hard struggle but I think we are very close to having a first class venue for our sport.
11/21/2006
The Surprise Farms property problems have been cleared up. The city council will approve the transfer to Parks & Recreation very soon. The Parks & Recreation has presented some plans to the contractor in charge of the work. Overall plans are about 90% complete and Mark Coronado indicated he was working with the proposal we submitted with suggestions for court layout, facilities & landscaping, scoreboards, etc. That's a very good sign! Construction work in the area will probably begin in January. Norm Davis will be in contact with the people in charge of the design before construction starts. When a final park layout is available we will provide a copy on this website. A final date for completion of the courts won't be available until the property has been transferred but the courts should be ready for the 2008 Arizona Senior Olympics.
Mark has gone out on a limb for our Pickleball community and he deserves a lot of credit. To our knowledge, Surprise is the first city in the country to build a dedicated Pickleball complex. In about 2 weeks, when final approval has been given, We hope to do an interview with Mark for a video & article on the USAPA website. Mark would like to provide the building as we requested with seating for 200 people so that we can conduct large tournaments and so they can support other activities in the area. The building would include food handling activities. How that goes depends on the City budget and council approval and whether funds are available in the current budget or next years budget.
Remember, that any clubs or other organizations that wish to sell products or services must have tax exempt status.
7/28/2006
A Parks and Recreation council meeting was set to approve the Surprise Farms Project including the 12 Pickleball courts. Because of a problem in the properties deed the approval had to be put on hold. Several years ago the land was part of a commercial development project. When the developer decided not to go through with the project they deeded the property to the city of Surprise. The plat plan then included a road. When the city started to transfer the land to the Parks and Recreation the road requirement was still there and had to be removed before the Parks and Recreation could accept the transfer and submit their plan. That should happen shortly and the project can get started.
5/8/2006
We had a meeting with the city to present our current list of concerns and facilities needs so that they have all the details before they begin detail design of the site. We provided them with detail court layout sizes, color and other requirements. We provided a suggested court area layout that we felt would best meet our needs at a reasonable cost. It included data on an adjacent building, lighting, viewer stands, shading, landscaping, maintenance, first aid, etc. The data was well received and they promised to contact us when they were ready to proceed with construction.
5/2/2006
In the April review of the Willow Canyon (Surprise Farms) Parks and Recreation facilities Mark Coronado presented 2 options for the facilities. Both included 12 Pickleball courts and, if funding is approved, a 1500 square foot building with the facilities we need to run tournaments. (Restrooms, kitchen, tables, etc. The Pickleball courts are at different places in each of the options but both layouts are near the High School. There are also 4 courts in the original area near the Library, for a total of 16. Mark expects the financial issues between the city and the Dysart school districts to be taken care of soon. Funds for the building have not yet been approved.
4/13/2006
Mark Coronado indicated that they are waiting on Sunbelt Holdings to officially "deed" the Surprise Farm Park to the city to initiate design and issues with regard to "financial payments" to the city as defined have not been received. They expect this to be resolved in 30-60 days. A Rec Center and or building would be in a future "phase "if funded". Current funding does not include a building. I sent an email to our Mayor and councilman Cliff Elkins asking for their support on the building. Mr. Elkins reply was: (Norm: Thanks for the continuing leadership on Pickleball. We anticipate that at our forthcoming budget workshop we will have these items included and get Pickleball the needed facilities - strongly support getting these as soon as possible. Cliff Elkins) Cliff has been a good supporter throughout this project.
3/6/2006
The Surprise Parks and Recreation presented an updated plan of their new building proposals. It included 8 courts south of Willow Canyon High School with no building improvements except for bathrooms. 4 courts were included at the stadium area site for a total of 12 courts. We told them we appreciated having 12 city courts but were very disappointed in the plan. We indicated that as it stood, there could be no Arizona Senior Olympics nor any National Tournaments that we had hoped to start here because there were no amenities available next to the courts and having the courts separated by 4 miles made it impossible to conduct a tournament. They agreed that we should try to do it right but that it would require some additional funding approval by the city council. It was agreed that they would follow up on that. Mark Coronado said he would get back to me later. We think that the new plan will have all 12 courts at a site near the stadium and away from the Tennis courts. There may also be provision for more courts at a later date. The courts might still be available within a year.
2/17/2006
Here's the latest from the office of Mark Coronado. The final design of the new complexes is almost complete. It will go the city council for final approval within a month. If all goes well we should have new courts at Surprise Farms within a year.
12/13/2005
The Parks and Recreation meeting was well attended and considerable input given by both Pickleball and Tennis players. 80 to 100 Pickleball players were there and asked questions about all aspects of the project design. Tennis players complained about the Pickleball noise and wanted some sort of noise barrier. Mike Coronado suggested that it might be a good idea to separate the project into two parts, one for each sport. He said that it might be good to move the Pickleball courts over to the Surprise Farms area where noise would not be a factor. This was well received by both sports but Pickleball players worried that it would cause a delay in their courts and might cost more. Mark indicated that the total cost and schedule would not change and that Pickleball might well get more courts that way, as many as 14 to 20. In a discussion before the general meeting I reviewed our concerns with the lead engineer for the development. He reviewed the list and said he would add them to any other questions posed during the meeting. After the meeting Mark said the engineers would return about January 10 and he would call me to set up a tour of all our neighborhood courts to get the pros and cons on what we have. We will start at Arizona Traditions, then go on to Happy Trails, Sun City Grand, Sun City West and Sun City. It should take a total of 2-3 hours. It was a very good meeting.
12/1/2005
There will be a Parks and Recreation meeting on December 13th, 6 PM at the library near the ball park. Final design plans for the court complex are going to be presented. We will be organizing a group to attend, we are encouraged to bring as many people as we wish. If you are interested contact Norm Davis.
10/21/2005
The latest report from the Parks & Recreation Commissioner is that we will likely be playing on the courts by September, perhaps sooner. Ground breaking will begin soon. They will be located behind the Library where the big dirt pile is now. A drawing of the tentative layout of the racquet complex is below. There will be restroom/shower facilities, a place to hold award ceremonies/dinners, etc. The Parks & recreation is eager to be partners with the senior communities in operating the Pickleball courts and handling tournaments.
They assure us that they will contact us to get our input before actually starting the construction. General Acrylics, Inc. will construct all the courts (they did the Tradition courts) and they will use the post-tension system. They expect a general meeting in about a month. We will be able to use tennis courts next to the Pickleball courts for practice, etc during tournaments. I also discussed using an expansion area for multiple sports, including Pickleball, Badminton, etc. I'm hopeful they will look into that.
There should be no problem selling merchandise to help finance tournaments. Food sales may be a problem but we may be able to save some money by working with the city and at least food will be available for players and fans. They will have a contract with someone to handle food sales on the premises. All clubs involved must have tax-exempt status.
9/20/2005
The design contract will go to the city council on Sept 29 with public comment in the next 60-90 days. Depending on budget, the plan is for 8-10 Pickleball courts and 22-25 tennis courts. After the budget and project scope is identified, a clearer timeline will be available.
We have submitted an extensive list of questions about how various aspects of tournaments will be handled. They include financing, product sales, safety/emergencies, court priorities, food handling/sales, restrooms/showers, coordination between clubs and Surprise representatives, court maintenance during tournaments, scheduling of court use for non tournament times, advertising, availability of a room for closing ceremonies, etc.