Dear editor:
The NOTL outdoor pickleball courts at Virgil are a public facility, installed and maintained by the town on public land largely at public expense.
Yet, when those courts open after acoustic panels have been installed, more hours on the courts will be reserved for the exclusive use of a private club, the NOTL Pickleball Club, than for the general public: 53.9 per cent of court hours for the club, against 46.1 per cent for public use.
It’s also worth noting that club members will actually have access to the courts 100 per cent of the time both as club members and as “the public.”
What is particularly concerning, however, is the distribution of access throughout the day.
In the preferred cooler hours of the morning, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. weekends, five of the six courts will be reserved exclusively for club use.
The availability of only one court for the public in the mornings will be no encouragement to visit the courts on spec (the pickleball club website actually states that “up to six courts” will be available for club member play when the Virgil outdoor courts open).
During hot, humid afternoons, all six courts are available to the public and, of course, to club members, but they will have had the opportunity to play in the cooler mornings.
On weekends, when families might want to play or try out pickleball, 60 per cent of total court time will be reserved for the club.
Why is court access so unfavourable to the public?
An agreement between the town and the pickleball club covering the five-year period, 2021 to 2026, gives the club this privileged access to the courts.
The memorandum states: “The town and the club will agree upon reserved court times for club play throughout the week” and “the club will make at minimum one court available during normal club reserved time for the general public to play.”
So, the NOTL Pickleball Club has claimed almost all the best times for itself.
The club pays no annual fee for its privileged access to the outdoor courts.
It is, however, responsible for cost-sharing the capital upgrades such as new acoustic panels, although the agreement appears conveniently vague: “The club agrees to partner with the town on all capital improvement required” at the courts.
I wonder what exactly this “partnering” involves, other than agreeing to some unspecified cost-sharing to capital upgrades.
The agreement is obviously very one-sided. It is clear that the town did not look after taxpayers’ interests effectively.
And, to compound the unfairness, “the club shall have the option to extend the agreement for an additional five years with the same terms and conditions.”
It appears that the town could have little say in how hours on the public pickleball courts are allocated until 2031.
I hope that when the courts finally open, the pickleball club relaxes its monopoly on the courts in prime morning times in favour of more public access.
A much fairer allocation would be a 50/50 split. Then, if the courts designated for public use are not used by the public, club players could use them.
I realize that the club has over 700 members, some from St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, all looking for court time.
But the club should not be able to determine and dominate court use to the extent that the town has allowed.
Mike Fox
NOTL
NOTL