We, the undersigned, are reaching out to our community to seek support to oppose the conversion of one tennis court at Bella Mar into four pickleball courts. 

Background:

This proposal emerged from a detailed discussion involving SRMA board representatives, pickleball, and tennis representatives during a recent Tennis Committee/HOA meeting; however, changes to the tennis amenities resulting in the reduction of tennis courts and reservation ability has not been approved by the community. 

Our aim is to maintain our community’s established tennis amenities in order to preserve court availability for recreational players, families, and established tennis leagues, while continuing to share tennis amenities with pickleball players, allowing pickleball players to reserve and play on four tennis courts at John Simpson and Bella Mar.

Proposal Concerns/Issues:

• The established Steiner Ranch tennis court amenities were not built or designed for pickleball. Currently, there is no amenity allocated for pickleball. The Steiner Ranch community has not voted to reduce tennis amenities which should prevent the HOA from removing or reducing the amenities without majority community support. 
• The pickleball conversion at Bella Mar would remove one tennis court completely and render the second court at Bella Mar unusable for tennis scrimmages, match play, or professional lessons due to the noise level from four courts of pickleball play.
• Tennis court reservations outweigh pickleball reservations five to one. Tennis players are not competing with pickleball players for court reservations but competing with fellow tennis players due to lack of tennis court availability.  Reducing courts from eight to six would greatly hinder the ability for tennis players to reserve a court.
  The Steiner Ranch Tennis amenities are the home for men and women’s tennis leagues. The established number of courts are necessary to provide adequate court availability for matches, scrimmages, and drills.
• The Steiner Ranch Tennis amenities are the home for professional lessons/drills available to all community residents (juniors and adults) making tennis affordable and accessible to those who may not belong to a country club or desire to pay for private lessons/drills from a country club professional.
• John Simpson Park is managed by a different HOA and has no plans to make any changes to John Simpson courts, so pickleball will still be available on both John Simpson courts.  Reservations on John Simpson courts are not allowed on the weekends. If the conversion takes place, tennis players will be reduced to reserve and play on 4 tennis courts.  Pickleball players will have seven total courts for play, five at Bella Mar and two at John Simpson.  The tennis to pickleball ratio does not justify the reduction in tennis courts and increase in pickleball availability.
• The conversion of a single tennis court to four pickleball courts does not live up to the standards of our amenities. It will be crowded for players and spectators and impact play.

Proposed Future Actions:

The HOA and pickleball community needs our help. Tennis players support the pickleball community and want to help raise funds and awareness for building new, separate pickleball facilities at Towne Square.  Although tennis players are currently sharing four tennis courts for pickleball use, they are also getting quotes and working on proposals to build new pickleball courts, separate from tennis courts. Many tennis players also enjoy pickleball and feel that a new and separate pickleball amenity would benefit the community greatly.  

To understand the neighborhood’s appetite for courts, we encourage the SRMA to have its residents vote on whether to convert a tennis court at Bella Mar to 4 pickleball courts. Before converting the court during a “maintenance” project, we ask the SRMA approve a master plan for building a pickleball center and returning tennis courts to its original state.

Why Support This Petition?

The ratio of tennis to pickleball reservations does not justify less tennis availability and more pickleball availability. To take tennis court amenities away at Bella Mar and give it to pickleball players is detrimental for this community and for tennis. Keeping the status quo is the best option for tennis players as it still provides four courts for pickleball players to use for pickleball but also provides the necessary court availability for tennis, which is in more demand.  Even though tennis players are sharing their courts with pickleball players now, tennis players still have the ability to use both Bella Mar tennis courts for tennis. 

Tennis is the approved, established, and utilized community amenity. Just because tennis and pickleball are similar in nature does not mean that established tennis amenities should be removed and retrofitted for pickleball courts.  

Your Signature Matters:

By signing this petition, you support the right of our community to continue to enjoy the established tennis amenities and enjoy the use of pickleball on four of the eight tennis courts.   

Thank you for your consideration and support.