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INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA AGENDA ITEM Assistant County Administrator / Department of General Services DEPARTMENTAL MATTERS BCC Meeting 05-14-2019 Date: To: Thru: May 06, 2019 The Honorable Board of County Commissioners Jason E. Brown, County Administrator Michael C. Zito, Assistant County Administrator From: Kevin Kirwin, Director Parks & Conservation Resources Subject: Staff Report and Update to the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners - Pickleball in Indian River County, Florida BACKGROUND: At the March 26, 2019 Board of County Commissioners Meeting, Ms. Mari Colacino, President of Pickleball University, Inc. a 501(c) (7) operating at the City of Vero Beach's, Pocahontas Park made a presentation as a public discussion item on the state of pickleball in Indian River County and the growing demand for public pickleball courts. During her presentation, Ms. Colacino acting on behalf of the board and membership of Pickleball University, requested that the funding for a pickleball complex be made available sooner than currently planned for in the FY2021/22 Capital Improvement Element. The discussion followed a previous presentation to the Board of County Commissioners on June 19, 2018 from Mr. Ken Roberts regarding the high demand and lack of availability of pickleball courts in Indian River County. During the discussion at the March 26 Commission Meeting, the Board requested that staff come back to the Board in four to six weeks with their findings and recommendations. ANALYSIS: As presented and discussed during the two presentations at Commission meetings, pickleball is a paddle sport that is played on a court with an area that is 20' x 44'. Pickleball can be played indoors or out of doors, singles and doubles. The number of recreational and competitive players has increased steadily over the last several years with a 12% growth reported by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) from 2017 to 2018 in their most recent report. Currently the Indian River County Recreation Division, is offering public indoor pickleball three days a week on six indoor courts in the gymnasium at the Intergenerational Recreation Center. Pickleball University has made an offer to the County to convert one of the two existing outdoor tennis courts at Dick Bird Park to four pickleball courts. The City Of Vero Beach has twelve public pickleball courts converted from the tennis courts at the Pocahontas Park. Six of these courts are in poor condition and Pickleball University received permission from the City of Vero Beach Council during their April 2, 2019 meeting to raise up to $180,000 to make pickleball court improvements at Pocahontas Park. C:\Users\legistar\AppData\Local\Temp\BCL Technologies\easyPDF 8\@BCL@500EBCC7\@BCL@500EBCC7.doc 98