TC Parks & Rec Moves Forward On Volleyball/Pickleball Courts, Monarch City Designation, 5-Year Master Plan

Traverse City Parks and Recreation commissioners are moving forward with several parks projects in the city, including upgrading the volleyball courts at West End Park, installing windscreens at the Slabtown pickleball courts (despite objections from some neighbors), earning Traverse City a Monarch City USA designation, and finalizing a five-year master plan.

Volleyball Courts
The six bayside volleyball courts at West End Park are on track to get an upgrade next spring, with plans to replace the sand on all the courts and install new fencing on the north side of the courts. Parks and Recreation commissioners recently voted to make a recommendation to the city commission to use funds from the Brown Bridge Trust Fund Parks Improvement Fund – monies dedicated specifically for city park projects – to tackle the upgrade in 2021. City commissioners will likely vote to approve the expenditure next month or January.

Usage of the volleyball courts has grown each year since the city started a recreational league in 2014. The existing sand at the court is a course material not intended for volleyball that often scrapes players’ knees, shins, and feet, and – because of its darker color – holds heat more than other types of sand. Measurements on a 78-degree summer day showed the surface temperature of sand at Clinch Park Beach reaching 104 degrees and West End Beach 100 degrees, while the volleyball courts hit 124 degrees. Those temperatures often render the courts unplayable for hours at a time, according to league players.

Players had hoped Parks and Recreation commissioners would approve a proposal to not only replace the sand on the existing volleyball courts but construct two new courts at the park. However, Parks and Recreation commissioners expressed skepticism of the proposal, with some saying they wanted to preserve the available green space at West End and that they believed six courts was enough to meet current demand. Board member Sabrina Newton said that if the city was going to invest in more volleyball courts, she’d rather see them added at Bryant Park than West End.

Board members did agree that the city should invest in keeping the current courts safe and usable, however, and that funding an estimated $22,500 for the sand replacement was reasonable after years of league players pouring their own money into the city-owned property. A “phase two” project at West End could see new bathrooms built at the park in the future, according to Parks and Recreation Superintendent Derek Melville.

Slabtown Pickleball Courts
A seemingly innocent decision to install windscreens around the Slabtown Corner pickleball courts this summer set off a neighborhood controversy, with some neighbors complaining about blocked bay views from the screens and noise and parking issues with players. The tension escalated when one neighbor took it upon himself to remove some of the screens, prompting Melville to bring the issue to Parks and Recreation commissioners for discussion.

Gary Ford, president of the Traverse Area Pickleball Association, told commissioners that the pickleball program has been “extremely successful” since the city agreed in 2018 to convert two tennis courts to six pickleball courts at the park. With approval from the city, players raised their own funds to buy and install windscreens this year around the courts to protect them from winds sweeping in off Grand Traverse Bay. Melville said he didn’t realize at the time that the screens would block bay views for some neighbors, drawing ire from those residents. The city took two of the four screens down to see if that would work as a compromise; a neighbor, upset they were not all removed, took the other two down. Melville said the city was in possession of all the screens and that he wanted board input on putting them up for the 2021 season, saying “there does not seem to be a compromise that would work for the desires of both the pickleball players and also the neighbors.”

Commissioners unanimously supported putting the screens up again in 2021. Several agreed with Ford’s argument that living next to a city park comes with expected impacts like noise, lights, and parking, and that neighbors didn’t own the right to views that carry across city-owned property. “Particularly in this location, (the screens) are necessary to play pickleball,” said Commissioner Evan Dalley. “This is a public park. I am a little concerned one of the neighbors unilaterally decided to remove the remaining screens when he did.” Commissioner Shawn Winter agreed, saying that windscreens are “pretty standard” at tennis and pickleball courts across the country and that he supported “having places in our parks where people can engage in physical activity.” Though the screens will go up again for the 2021 season, they will be in place during only warm-weather months and come down during the off-season.

Monarch City
Traverse City could be designated a Monarch City USA under a proposal supported by Parks and Recreation commissioners this week. Cyndie Bobier-Roach of the GT Butterfly House & Bug Zoo approached the board with the idea of earning the designation, which would have the city commit to working with gardening and landscaping clubs to create pollinator zones in the city, encourage citizens to plan private milkweed and nectar gardens, convert abandoned lands to monarch butterfly habitat when possible, and promote monarch butterfly conservation in planning efforts, among other steps.

Bobier-Roach noted the monarch butterly population has declined 90 percent in 20 years and that communities can help by taking easy steps to nurture and preserve the species. Her group has secured a funding pledge to pay for the $1,550 lifetime membership cost in the Monarch City USA program on behalf of the City of Traverse City, with city leaders simply needing to agree to follow the tenets of the program. With Parks and Recreation support, the proposal now heads to city commissioners for approval.

Five-Year Parks & Recreation Master Plan
Finally, Parks and Recreation is close to finalizing a five-year master plan that will guide parks projects in Traverse City from 2021 to 2026. An estimated 600 residents have already weighed in through an online survey posted by the department this fall. Their feedback helped shape the draft master plan, which went live on the city website this week. Staff are now seeking feedback on the draft; comments can be emailed to info@goslingczubak.com. The department also still has its survey live and is collecting additional input that way. Parks and Recreation departments are required to have updated five-year master plans on file in Michigan in order to qualify for numerous state grant programs, notably those available through the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Photo credit: Traverse City Beach Volleyball Steering Committee