Pickleball Courts Improvement Update

Regarding the new courts at Miami Meadows, to lessen the angle of the slope from the center of the court to the baselines, and to have a more consistent second surface underneath the paint to remove the low points that collect rain water, contractor JK Meurer will come in August and add a new layer of asphalt that will be feathered from the center of the courts and have a deeper layer of the asphalt added to the ends of the courts. A 30-day curing will then need to occur. Then the subcontractor Schubert Tennis, who has worked on many pickleball courts, will come after that, and add a finish course, repaint, and restripe the whole area. It makes sense to do this in August when the heat is most extreme, meaning the amount of playing time decreases, but can still have the multiple steps completed before cold weather begins in the fall. Asphalt and paint work are not as effective in cold weather. So, this will be large scale work that will make for longer lasting improvements but will unfortunately mean that we will need to completely close the courts in the August/September timeframe.

We also have been seeking quotes from contractors to fill in the cracks in the pickleball and tennis courts at Community Park and repaint and reline them after that. The court specialty companies are backed up with work right now in so many private projects, pickleball and tennis clubs and other communities, so we cannot get a date, yet, on when one could perform the work, but we continue to push to get a reputable contractor to want to perform the work at Community Park.

Regarding Miami Riverview Park, we hope to be able to add pickleball courts on the existing tennis court there. That work had to be delayed because the courts have shifted, and it is a much larger scope of work as we need to have a geotechnical engineer review the soil conditions under the courts that have shifted and caused very severe issues. We even had to have a drilling rig come on those courts to get core samples of the soil and rock underneath. After we have the appropriate solution for the correct permanent, we will have a construction company perform the necessary work to stabilize the ground under the courts. After the large fix and repaving and coating of the playing surfaces are done, we believe the court can be restriped to have a dual purpose for pickleball in addition to the existing tennis court, and possibly, basketball.