The more I talk to residents, the more I hear, "Yeah, I ranked that high on the survey. But that was before the county put in the pickleball courts right up the road." The LRP survey was concluded in March of 2023. The outdoor pickleball courts were added to the SB Community Center in January of 2024. That data is now irrevelant.

As I have stated before, this petition is not ANTI-PICKLEBALL - it's PRO-IMPACT ASSESSMENT. So for the sense of fairness, let me put on a PRO-PICKLEBALL hat for a moment...

It is very, very clear to any of us looking at the proposed site, that the proposed location would negatively impact residents. That's a non-starter. What isn't clear is if it is even possible to place court(s) on the Aquarina grounds without negatively impacting any of our residents' quiet enjoyment of their homes and outdoor spaces.

But that is what a professional impact assessment will provide to us. It will inform feasibility. So in our PRO advocacy mode we have been coming up with off-the-cuff possible alternative sites just to see what sites could be provided for impact assessment to study:

1. The parking lot along A1A would likely be the cheapest alternative.
2. Court 1 at the tennis club could be modified to provide a single pickleball court, taking into account that sound is most amplified along the ends and not the sides, we opted for just one.
3. Adding two courts along the turn of Aquarina Blvd, outside of the existing parking lot at the Community Center. Besides drainage running underneath this area from the ponds - this alignment of the courts again takes advantage of the fact that the ends, not the sides, cause the most noise impact. So we are aiming at holes 5/6/7 and 15/16/17 on the golf course instead of residences and away from the community center itself. Could that work?

That would be the point of a professional impact assessment.

The proposed site includes a cost that wasn't apparent during the ACSA meeting -- that the existing bocce court would have to be eliminated and replaced elsewhere. This adds to the cost of the project. If we found that any of these alternative sites could work, we could spend that money on any noise abatement that an impact assessment requires.

However, I will again underscore that a professional impact assessment is NOT one provided by a noise abatement company. The company or companies that are selected to perform the impact assessment cannot be attached to the outcome. There have been numerous complaints about noise abatement companies that simply provide an assessment of how their equipment will allow the HOA to place the courts exactly where they want if they buy XYZ. We will not be making that mistake.

Now ask yourself this for each alternate site listed above:

1. Would it impact your enjoyment of the restaurant patio or beach club deck?
2. Would it impact your enjoyment of tennis or inconvenience your use of that resource?
3. Would it impact your enjoyment of the community pool, golf course or community center?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions - you know the answer has to be no for the proposed site. We cannot willingly negatively impact our neighbors and friends for the convenience of any.

And that is why we are PRO-IMPACT ASSESSMENT. We are not ANTI-PICKLEBALL. Let the professionals determine if a site can be utilized in this manner. This is not a volunteer activity.

As always, please circulate this online petition to your neighbors and community members. https://change.org/pickleball-impact. We currently have MORE signers to the petition than there were YES answers on the long range planning survey. Keep it going so that we can urge our ACSA board members to remove the 100K reserve for pickleball from the draft 2025 budget and get a professional impact assessment instead.

Interested in seeing the Long Range Planning Survey Questions as they related to Pickleball? Look here.