Create city pickleball center
Editor, Boerne citizens should be concerned about what I consider mismanagement of the proposed pickleball courts as part of the Adler sports additions.
Currently, 12 pickleball courts are scheduled to be built at this facility. First of all, 12 pickleball courts will be inadequate to satisfy the sport’s meteoric growth expected down the road.
This approach portends to be another boondoggle witnessed decades ago, with construction of eight tennis courts at Boerne City Park where a couple of egregious mistakes were made:
• Tennis courts incorrectly constructed with an east-west orientation. Errors like this should not happen if folks are doing their job.
• Lack of adequate soil compaction resulted in recurring cracks in the courts. I’ve heard the comment, “Well, it was built on a swamp.” Maybe there is poor soil, but good engineering could have avoided this preventable mistake.
I’m looking at the overall picture from a business standpoint for these Parks and Rec. facilities. First, convert these 12 pickleball courts to six tennis courts on the same real estate, with the correct north-south orientation. This satisfies USTA 5-point league play court requirements. Boerne tennis players will at long last have a first-class tennis facility that should have been constructed decades ago.
Here’s the business part of my proposal: Convert Boerne City Park to Boerne Pickleball Center: 32 pickleball-only courts, where major tournaments could be held, with income flowing into the city coffers.
Our present pickleball community that plays at Boerne City Park could aid in the administration of these tournaments. The Boerne business community would benefit from such tournaments, with the pickleball dollars flowing into their businesses. These 32 courts could handle the expected growth of the sport.
I urge Boerne residents to get involved; Contact your council person. Time is of the essence.
— Nolan Kuehn Boerne residence
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