On June 14, 2022, RCSD board members heard a dozen Rossmoor residents and interested tennis players made public remarks about the untoward effects Pickleball would have on Rossmoor Park and its Community. As a result of these public statements from deeply concerned residents of Rossmoor and interested tennis players, the RCSD board has agreed to discuss the subject of Pickleball as a dedicated agenda item at the July RCSD board meeting.

In the interim, it has come to our attention that the Board is seriously considering moving forward with a Pickleball Trial during the week of July 25th. We would like to reiterate the negative consequences of this decision and urge the Board to dismiss the plans for a Pickleball Court at Rossmoor Park.

1. Noise: One of the biggest concern with Pickleball at Rossmoor Park is noise. The dramatic difference in noise pollution generated by the hard paddle from the pickle ball racket and ball compared to tennis was clearly demonstrated to the board at the June meeting. There were several separate occasions where two players used Court 1 at Rossmoor for Pickleball. The noise generated for the residents around the perimeter of the Park was unacceptable. It was noted by many of the residents that they couldn’t leave their windows open since the noise was too loud. This is with 2 players playing on 1 court. If there were 16 players on 4 courts, the noise would be unbearable.
2. Tennis court Availability: Currently, it can be quite difficult for residents of Rossmoor to get a court to play during peak hours. There are two Pros who occupy two of the courts almost every day during the peak early hours before noon and from 3pm to when the lights turn off. If one of the remaining two courts is converted to pickleball courts, the availability of a tennis court for residential tennis players would dramatically decrease.
3. Traffic and Parking: Rossmoor is a small community Park NOT a Regional Park. As currently is, Rossmoor already has three diamond softball courts, 4 tennis courts, a volleyball court and a basketball court. It is well known that when the softball games are on that the parking and traffic around the perimeter of the park is very crowded and busy. Hedwig Road is a main feeder street for the Rossmoor community but is too small for this purpose and becomes very tight when cars are parked along both sides of the street. With the additional Pickleball courts, this would only negatively add to the traffic disruption and crowdedness for the residents around the Park.
4. Home Values: Given all the concerns with increase in noise pollution and traffic around the Park, it is clearly a valid concerned for homeowners around the Park that Pickle ball will diminish their homes values. Will the RCSD board take responsibility for this?

 In summary, we as concerned residents of Rossmoor Community and interested tennis players who use the facilities at Rossmoor Park strongly urge the Board to dismiss the plans to convert a tennis court to pickleball courts, especially without a FORMAL IMPARTIAL COMMUNITY IMPACT STUDY. If there is a desire to put pickleball courts in the community of Rossmoor, then a more reasonable plan might be to place them at Rush Park with the appropriate sound mitigating provisions to minimize the negative impacts on the surrounding homes. Additionally, Rush Park might be more logical place since it has a dedicated parking lot and currently has no or few if any high impact sports.

If the RCSD board would like to use their surplus reserve funds to improve the community of Rossmoor, it would be more appropriate to pursue repairs needed for existing activities at Rossmoor Park (the playground, the walk-ways to mention a couple) or add needed CCTV surveillance cameras around Rossmoor Park or at least around the Community Center given the recent vandalism incidents.

The following undersigned shows support for the opposition of the pickleball court conversion plan at Rossmoor Park and strongly urge the RCSD board to reconsider.

Sincerely,
Rossmoor Community Residents.