Tucker council to consider revised pickleball contract at May 12 meeting

File photo Despite assurances that the construction of a controversial pickleball facility was put on hold until the Tucker City Council will vote on a contract for a downsized version of the proposal at its May meeting According to a staff memo the million plan which would be built on a multi-purpose field at the Tucker Recreation Center calls for six pickleball courts additional parking and other amenities It recommends the contract be awarded to Complete Site LLC which was the low bidder when the council was considering the construction last year Based on feedback from the group meeting held on November meeting and staff and leaders we expanded the recreational opportunities to include tennis and basketball as well as a small area that may include sand volleyball and bocce courts a staff memo about the plan reported The revised plan according to the memo will add sound mitigation measures Acoustiblok screening on each court to the project to help further combat viable noise effects Opponents to the courts likened the revised plan to putting lipstick on a pig The memorandum suggests that this is a new and improved complex with the addition of one basketball court one tennis court a sand volleyball court and two bocce ball courts while keeping only six pickleball courts according to a Facebook post by TRC -Pickleball Tucker Ga Don t be taken in by this blatant and ridiculous sleight of hand the post continued There is NO fundamental change to the design as the basketball and tennis courts are merely lipstick on a pig Each can and will be converted to full-time pickleball after the installation is complete Rebecca Gross an outspoken critic of the proposal stated the city is trying to disguise its intention to line each court for pickleball play They are trying to make it look like they are compromising with us by saying there will be a basketball court a tennis court etc Please know that they fully intend to line off everything for pickleball as well Gross commented in a message sent to Rough Draft Atlanta As it will be first-come first-serve the pickleball players will monopolize the courts and we will still have courts Neighbors on nearby Morgan Road have been opposed to the complex s construction complaining that the noise generated by the repetitive sound of the paddles hitting the balls and increased traffic would disrupt their quality of life A graphic on the Voices for Balance website illustrates the radius of accomplishable pickleball noise nuisance that the proposed courts would generate Provided by Voices for Balance At its April meeting The Tucker City Council heard that proposed projects for would not include million for the controversial pickleball complex While presenting the city s preliminary list of capital projects Tucker City Manager John McHenry stated the city has not made a decision surrounding a proposed pickleball and deferred million previously discussed for the complex in the budget to Gross stated this latest turn of events had been extremely stressful it feels like David fighting Goliath The noise corruption impact on Morgan Road remains The sound blankets have been proven ineffective in lessening the impact on neighboring residential properties she declared The excessive cost remains This cost cannot be justified given the financial priorities of the city in the current political context A group called Voices for Balance has built a website that details the history of the project and the rationale behind their opposition to it It also includes links to city documents and national news stories about the negative effects of pickleball complexes on nearby residents The city s agenda item and supporting documents can be detected here The post Tucker council to consider revised pickleball contract at May meeting appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta