New Canaan has seen a dramatic decline in the number of residents purchasing passes for the tennis courts at Mead Park, according to officials who now want to consider alternate uses for some of them.
Members of the Parks & Recreation Commission said Wednesday night that while residents purchased some 400 passes a dozen years ago to play on the clay courts at Mead, that number declined to about 300 from 2012 to 2015, then 147 last year and just 112 this season, whose opening was delayed due to a contractor’s failure.
“They have dropped by two-thirds almost,” Commission Chair Sally Campbell said during the group’s regular meeting, held at Latham Community Center. “So it appears there is not real heavy usage of the courts anymore. So we were thinking we have a little group some committee members who are going to look at what would be best thing to do with those courts. We definitely keep the Har-Tru courts but do we need eight of them?”
She referred to the eight clay courts at Mead—the ninth court is a pure hard surface.
Ideas for converting some number of clay courts—themselves more expensive for the town to keep up—include painting permanent “Pickleball” lines, creating year-round all-purpose courts, box lacrosse, roller hockey and basketball.
Campbell said: “My idea is to make one beach volleyball because that would be awesome and kids would love to play that.”
Commissioner Carl Mason and Recreation Director Steve Benko are to gather ideas and return to the full body, Campbell said.
Commissioner Laura Costigan asked whether the newer courts at New Canaan High School may be drawing some tennis player away from Mead Park. She noted that the courts recently were resurfaced, had an additional court installed and that nobody needs a pass there. (A pass at Mead Park costs $115 for adults, $70 for seniors and $50 for kids, with a $5 daily guest fee.)
Parks Department Superintendent John Howe said that, anecdotally, the courts at the high school seem to be getting high regular use.
“I think you are right,” he told Costigan.
Campbell said the Commission would try to pull together ideas for the courts at Mead ahead of its capital budget request for next fiscal year.
Get rid of the courts? Horrible idea! The delay this year was the single reason I didn’t pay full-price for an arguably 2/3 season pass. Before they abandon these amazing clay courrts
I suggest doing something, anything, to market and advertise this amazing unique feature of our town. To imply the only variable in reduced sign-ups is simply that nobody wants to play on them is uninformed at best. I suggest the P&R commission do a little more research and data-gathering before they conclude the courts serve no purpose. This year’s numbers should definitely be written-off as an anomaly for the simple reason they were unusable (with no idea when they’d be up-and-running) during the time people normally buy passes.
Make them more accessible. Use court booking phone apps built for this purpose and lower admin overhead for us all. Who wants to take time off work to go to Waveney house for a permit in 2018?
Similar comment for replacing two parking machines at Talmadge Hill for $20k. Why would we automatically replace two units when the mobile app works great? … We need a digital transformation of town hall! Save $ and better serve the community. ( & no, the town website is not the answer here!)
I’ve stopped purchasing a tennis pass because the courts are never ready until half way through what I would consider the outdoor tennis season.
Shame .
Here’s a thought, New Canaan, why not let people use them at no cost?