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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-13-2015 BW1 Cleere 1COUNCIL MI✓E IN©: ON ITEM NO.: 13-.J 1 �? The Need for Lights, at the Sinsheimer Park Tennis Courts DEC 2 9 2014 An Independent Report to the Ban Lulls Obispo City Coanoll Vicente del Rio Scott Cleere Christopher Gilbert Eddie Rodriguez December 10, 2014 Contents Introduction : 2 1. The Importance of Tennis and Some Comparisons : 4 2. Reasons for Lights on the Sinsheimer Park Tennis Courts : S 3. What the Community Wants - Survey Results : 7 Appendix: Examples of Modern Tennis Lights 1 Introduction This report was authored by four members of the San Luis Obispo tennis community interested in helping to make this town happier and healthier through the practice of tennis. Our goal is to prove to the San Luis Obispo City Council that there is a pressing need to support the practice of tennis in the public parks serving our community. We will show that, at the present time, the easiest, fastest, most cost - effective, and most impactful means to this end is to install lights at the at the Sinsheimer Park tennis courts complex. Lights would extend the courts' playability (evenings and winter), make them more accessible outside normal working hours, and represent a much cheaper solution than building new courts. The authors of this report understand that the City Council must make its decisions based on the wants and needs of the citizens. For this reason, we have gathered data from the SLO tennis community by means of an online opinion survey. The survey results are included in this report. In Section 1 of this report, we discuss the importance of tennis and the United States Tennis Association recommendations. We also present a table comparing the availability of tennis courts in San Luis Obispo against some other cities in California. Section 2 of the report lists the top reasons why lights should be installed in the Sinsheimer Park tennis courts. It also compares the estimated costs of installing lights against those of building new courts. Section 3 of the report presents the final results of an opinion survey conducted by the authors of this report. For one month (10/27 to 11/27) an on -line survey was made available to the community. From a total of 137 respondents, the vast majority (129 or 96.99 %) supports lights at the Sinsheimer courts. In the Appendix, we include a series of examples of modern tennis lights. In San Luis Obispo, most people think of lights as those available at SLO High: old, inefficient, and aesthetically and environmental unfriendly. But the truth is that modern lights stand much closer to the ground, are more efficient and less invasive, and are very cost - effective. We sincerely hope that with this report and particularly with the results of the opinion survey we have conducted, the San Luis Obispo City Council will agree with us on the need to install lights in the Sinsheimer courts, and consider it a priority within the 2015 -2017 goal setting. 2 1. The Importance of Tennis and Some Comparisons It is never enough to stress why tennis is considered to be one of the most complete and ideal sports: • It can be played by people of all ages; • It relies mostly on the player as an individual; • It builds character, self - determination, and will power; • It depends on a unique combination of mental and physical skills; • It requires good balance, agility, reflexes, coordination, and physical endurance; • It is particularly great for young kids and teenagers because of all of the above! Tennis is not an expensive sport. Numerous rackets are economically priced, a set of three balls costs less than $3.00, the construction of a court does not take much space and its maintenance is significantly cheaper than sports such as baseball, soccer, football, and certainly golf. Another important factor is that it only takes two players for a game! According to the United States Tennis Association recommendations, a city with a population the size of San Luis Obispo should have close to 50 tennis courts (public and private) available (see Table 1).' The USTA also recommends that tennis facilities should be planned considering the population (and therefore the potential number of players) within a 6 -mile radius or a 15- to 20- minute driving time. Of course, these are ideal numbers recommended by an association who is strongly committed to popularizing tennis and expanding its practice among all demographics. However, they are important indicators to consider. Table 1: USTA Recommendations Population Total number of courts 15,000 20 25,000 30 50,000 50 100,000 80 250,000 130 500,000 210 750,000 270 1,000,000 320 1,250,000 360 1,500,000 400 More than 1,500,000 1 per 4000 I In http: / /www.usta.com /Facilities/ facilities_frequently _ asked_questions / 3 The City of San Luis Obispo has a verifiable total of 28 public and private tennis courts. Of note, three of these (Laguna Middle School) are in such a bad shape that they need to be rebuilt. These courts are distributed as follows (Table 2): Table 2: Tennis courts (public and private) within the City of San Luis Obispo In city parks Sinsheimer 6 8 Isley 1 French 1 School District SLO High 6 9 (of this total one has to deduct the 3 courts in Laguna Middle School which are in terrible shape of maintenance and are unusable) Laguna Middle School 3 Cal Poly Very limited use to the public 7 In private property Los Osos Park I & 2; Jewish Community Center; private home in Foothill Ave. 4 Total 28 (of which 25 are playable) The courts located in the Country Club, Avila Bay Resort and Spa Club, Morro Bay, Los Osos, Pismo, and Grover Beach were not included in the count because: a) they are outside the City of San Luis Obispo; b) they are located beyond a 6 -mile 15- minute radius from the center of San Luis Obispo and most of its population. Next, Table 3 presents a sample of the total number of public tennis courts available in several cities in California, with populations that are comparable to that of San Luis Obispo. Table 3: Public Tennis Courts in California Cities X San Luis Obispo Population (2010) Public With Lights Davis 65,589 19 10 Paso Robles 29,841 8 4 Grover Beach 13,432 5 5 Aliso Viejo 47,823 2 2 Brea 39,282 4 4 Cerritos 49,041 10 10 Lompoc 43,509 6 6 Newark 42,573 7 7 San Gabriel 39,718 2 2 San Luis Obispo 45,119 8 none Therefore, from the discussion above, we may conclude that the City of San Luis Obispo needs more tennis courts that are open to the public and, particularly, tennis courts with lights. 4 2. Reasons for Liehts on the Sinsheimer Park Tennis Courts The eleven major reasons for having lights installed at Sinsheimer can be summarized as follows: 1. The City only provides eight courts (six at Sinsheimer, one at Islay, one at French), and none of them are lighted. 2. The only lighted courts in the city limits are at Cal Poly (which are intended for use by CP students) and SLOHS (which were installed in 1984, and are very dated). 3. The City's parks provide lighted facilities for soccer, baseball, softball, basketball, roller hockey, volleyball, and horseshoes, but not for tennis. 4. The peak times for tennis court usage are 8:00 a.m. to noon (for those who are free to play during the day) and after 5:00 p.m. (for all the rest of us). 5. Lighting the existing SLO tennis courts (especially the multi -court facility at Sinsheimer Park) is the most cost - effective way of increasing usable hours than would be the building of new, lighted tennis courts. 6. Wealthy residents in the City can play on lighted courts at private clubs in SLO or Avila, but middle class residents cannot afford private club membership, so the City needs to provide lights for them. 7. Modern tennis court lights are specifically designed to light only the courts, preventing light pollution of the surrounding area (so the old concerns of Sinsheimer Park neighbors are no longer relevant). As an example, consider the new lights at the Arroyo Grande High School courts (which anyone can turn on for free with the push of a button). 8. To prevent excessive noise late into the night, the lights could be timed to shut off automatically at a certain time (e.g., 9:00 p.m.). 9. Tennis players support a pay -as- you -play system for lights, if that proves necessary. (Note, however, that we have found the coin -box system at SLOHS to be very unreliable; a key system would work better. See the system for Soto Park lights used by the Five Cities Tennis Association.) 10. Installing lights in the courts will help increase safety for park users and the surrounding community. 11. Tennis is becoming an increasingly popular sport due to the growth of media coverage of international events. Youngsters and teenagers of our community are excited and need to be encouraged to play after school, and not discouraged from not finding available facilities. 5 The City Council should also consider the following important variables: • The cost for lighting 6 tennis courts (Sinsheimer Park) is approximately $75,000. • The cost for building a new court is approximately $75,000 to $100,000 per court. Evidently many factors can add to this cost such as: grading, quality of materials, windscreens, etc. A rough estimate of the impact of adding lights to the courts at Sinsheimer Park Seize is as follows: • Play time after work/school: 5:00 to 9:OOPM • Total days of the year when natural light does not permit play after 5:OOPM: 120 days • Total number of added hours of play if courts are lit: 120 x 4 = 600 hours of play time (or 150 x 4 = 750 hours of play time if one includes March). Therefore, if the City Council considers the cost and impacts of installing lights at the Sinsheimer courts, the benefits to the community are clear. 2 3. What the Community Wants In order to understand how the SLO community stands in regard to the idea of having lights installed at the Sinsheimer Park courts, we decided to conduct an internet -based opinion survey. We built a questionnaire, tested it for reliability, and used SurveyMonkey. com as a resource. For the construction of the final survey, we also received the opinion of Dr. Daniel Levi, Professor of Psychology at Cal Poly and an expert in such types of investigation. The survey included a total of 10 questions: 9 closed and 1 open -ended answer. An extra optional question asked for the participant's email for further contact. An email with a call to participate and a link to the on -line survey was disseminated. The on -line survey was made available on October 27 and it was closed on November 27, and there were a total of 137 respondents. The major findings of the survey were: • 94 (66.61 %) of respondents live in SLO, and 43 (31.39 %) do not; • 134 (98.53 %) of respondents play tennis, and 2 (1.47 %) do not; • 71 (61.21 %) of respondents said that Sinsheimer Park is were they play most frequently; • 90 (66.18 %) responded that they play more than 2 times a week; • The majority of respondents (77 or 56.62 %) play in the late afternoons and early evenings; • The majority of respondents (96 or 71.11 %) have more players in their household; • The majority of respondents (129 or 96.11 %) want the Sinhseimer Park tennis courts to be lighted; • The majority of respondents (128 or 95.52 %) approve of having the lights operated by a meter system; • The majority of respondents (121 or 90.30 %) agree in having the lights automatically shut at a give time at night. A copy of the complete survey results follows, including all the answers to Question 10 which required a write- in statement. 7 Yes Survey of lights for tennis courts in San Luis Obispo Q1 Do you live in San Luis Obispo City? Answered. 137 Skipped:0 T._ �s 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Answer Choices Responses Yes 68.61% No 31.39% Total 1/11 94 43 437 Yes No Survey of lights for tennis courts in San Luis Obispo Q2 Do you play tennis? Answered; 136 Skipped: 1 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Answer Choices Responses Yes 98.53% 1.47% Total 2/11 134 2 136 Survey of lights for tennis courts in San Luis Obispo Q3 Where do you play tennis most frequently? Answered; 116 Skipped: 21 Sinsheimer Park SLO High School French Park Isley Park t:'I Cal Poly 0% 10% Answer Choices 1 Sinsheimer Park SLO High School French Park Islay Park Cal Poly Total 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 3/11 Responses 61.21% 19.83% 3.45% 2.59% 12.93% 2 s 15 116 Survey of lights for tennis courts in San Luis Obispo Q4 How often do you play tennis? Answered. 136 Skipped:1 Once a week Two or three times a week Four or more times a week Not very frequently 1: 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Answer Choices Responses Once a week 23.53% Two or three times a week 48.53% Four or more times a week 17.65% Not very frequently 10.29% Total 4/11 32 66 24 14 136 Survey of lights for tennis courts in San Luis Obispo Q5 What time do you play most frequently? Answered; 135 Skipped: 1 Mornings Afternoons Late afternoons /... i No preference 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Answer Choices Responses Mornings 21.32% Afternoons 11.03% Late afternoons / early evenings 56.62% No preference 11.03% Total 5/11 M 15 77 1 Survey of lights for tennis courts in San Luis Obispo Q6 How many other members of your household play tennis? Answered: 135 Skip3p e& 2 None, just me 4 One Two Three 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Answer Choices Responses None, just me 28.89% One 27.41% Two 24.44% Three 19.26% Total 6/11 39 37 135 Survey of lights for tennis courts in San Luis Obispo Q7 Would you like to have lighted courts at Sinsheimer Park? Answered. 133 Skipped :4 Yes 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Answer Choices Responses Yes 96.99% 190 3.01% Total 7/11 129 •1 133 Yes No Survey of lights for tennis courts in San Luis Obispo Q8 Would you be OK with these lighted courts being controlled by an operated meter system? Answered: 134 Skipped :3 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Answer Choices Responses Yes 95,52% NO 4.48% Total 8/11 128 6 134 Survey of lights for tennis courts in San Luis Obispo Q9 Would you be OK in having the lights automatically shut off at a set time in the evening? Answered: 134 Skipped :3 Yes No i 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Answer Choices Responses Yes 90.30% No 9.70% Total 9/11 121 13 134 Question 10: Any comments or suggestions? In this open -ended question respondents, 43 out of 137 (total) respondents wrote in their answers. All comments and suggestions follow. 1. 1 played for the cal poly mustangs for 4 years and coached a year. We utilized sinsheimer courts at times because our courts were being used for either cal poly classes or club tennis practices. Sinsheimer needs to have lights to increase the amount of opportunities to practice for the SLO talent. 2. no 3. Additional tennis courts should be considered for the future Chevron Tank Farm project 4. It would be a great contribution to society if we had lights at the park!!! 5. Please make any new lights energy efficient and make sure the night lighting levels are uniform and cover the entire court surface adequately. 6. Could we do what is done at Soto in A. G. ?? Have a type of tennis membership at a minimal cost.... members would have a light card to insert and not have to worry about quarters that don't last long .... anita smith 7. This will need an environmental impact study before approval to see the impact it will have on the neighborhood. 8. Let there be Light! 9. It would be great if Sinsheimer had lights so that we have other locations to play aside from SLOHS. 10. We really need more places that have lights to play tennis in the evenings... This makes sense.... 11. We have lights on two (of six) courts in Cambria. In the winter months they are used frequently and are greatly appreciated by working folk (and others) who want to play during the week after work /school. Great asset to the (tennis) community! 12. The courts are too close to the adjacent homes and it is in appropriate to light them. I think we should look for other locations to build courts with lights in town or fix the high school courts. 13. We live directly behind the tennis courts so we are in the small number of households most affected by this and we think the park would be safer and more fun with the lights. We would like them to them to go no later than 9pm. Currently we watch skate boarders on the courts almost daily in the summertime and would like to see this problem addressed as well. 14. Would love there to be lights there 15. I'm glad there is a group looking into lighting the courts. 16. Just 2 courts would probably be enough 17. Having lights would allow my family more time to play tennis together in the evenings 18. 1, and most of my tennis friends, support a coin/ card lighting system to help pay for their construction and maintenance. 19. 1 think we are overdue for lighted tennis courts at Sinsheimer. The city does a great job maintaining the courts. I think a "shut off time somewhere between 9pm and lOpm is reasonable. 20. Build more courts at city parks please, I frequently cannot find a court to play as they are all taken, 21. Can you please add lights for volleyball court in Islay park? 22. Great idea and increased safety 23. Please give some lights at Sinsheimer. Its a great park but without lights, so many tennis players are leaving our community to 5 cities and north county to play. 24. Please get us lights! 25. This community deserves public courts with lights for night play! 26. Use LED lights. Install regular switches, not keyed switches. Set timer to shut off power late pm. 27. IMy tennis partner and I need a simple way to connect -up with other players at our level. 28. 1 think the lights at Sinsheimer should be cut off EITHER by lOpm or when the lights are shut off at Damon Garcia Baseball field and SInsheimer Baseball Field 29. Lights at the Sinsheimer tennis courts are long overdue! 30. Lights at the Shinshiemer tennis courts would be heavily used and beneficial to the community and would cause little disturbance to the neighborhood around them. 31. There are so few courts, and even fewer lighted courts, in San Luis Obispo. Having lights at the Sinsheimer courts would be a fantastic improvement. 32. Yes, this should have been done years ago. How can there be community approval for huge baseball field lights right next to the Sinsheimer courts yet the uproar from nearby residences about lights on the tennis courts has defeated the idea each and every time. 33. Keep on with your fight for more investments on tennis in our city! 34. I live nearby and think it would be beneficial to people in the park in the evening with lighted courts to discourage unwelcome activities. 35. 1 play mostly in Arroyo Grande but play at Sinsheimer too.1 worked at Cal Poly until I retired & played weekly after work.In winter onlyoption was SLOHS & it was hard to get a court. 36. 1 feel additional tennis courts would also be most welcomed. 37. Wishing you success in a very worthwhile endeavor. 38. The lights at SLO High are almost unusable for older people, 50 +, who have more trouble seeing in the evening, For working people the evening is the only time to play during the week. 39. Create a system that tracks who is using the lights to manage excessive noise or trouble makers. 40. A metered, pay -as- you -play system would be fine, but 1 would recommend against coin boxes. The ones at SLOHS are notoriously unreliable - -they get jammed, or they take coins but do not get the lights turned on. Some sort of key or card key system would be better. (Five Cities Tennis Association has a key system it uses for the Soto Park lights.) 41. It is a shame that a city the size of San Luis Obispo with such an active tennis community has so few public courts and no lighted courts. Cal Poly is unavailable and the lights at the high school are frequently not working and the courts have been locked in the past. 42. We need more courts, especially lighted courts. This is a big tennis town, and often in the afternoons, pros reserve the courts to give lessons, and I have to wait until dark to play, so winter time hurts working adults especially hard. 43. We charge $25 /yr for family to get key for lights, and it works and used. Appendix: Examples of Modern Tennis Lights I Housing 2 ballast: Housing 3 Ballas[ 4 Reflector 5 Lens Assembly d Gasketing 7 Arm 8 Hand Hole Hid Hdo c SMI b.1w parpt& I Fd�►3YYn:�L�7pIh ty,d uomaQr o arftidGyPaurt[Wwdsd[n.) E'21* PIQIa GOW EMRGPI2Io Come);, Fou -MILn Anther. E-4tr. I.kunin� kai�ht 2t«i° or i Ho�h9 Of A), Lm r 1 ICJ ILJ .wb� 11 41k TENNIS Needs YOU' Presently the city's public tennis courts are not supporting the demand for tennis. Bring the whole family! Mark your calendar We want to ensure that tennis players have a place to play. Join other local tennis players, enthusiasts and family members as we rally and unite to make ourselves heard! * Our main goal is to brinR lights to Sinsheimer Park Tennis Courts * SLO CITY COMMUNITY FORUM TUESDAY JAN. 13th 2015 6:30PM- 9:30PM Ludwick Community Center -864 Santa Rosa St RSVP WITH PHONE. r 0 ��n* RSVP ONLINE. Wear your tennis gear! Bring a friend or two% http : / /bit.ly /lxa EgCQ Scott Cleere usprta. Creative Athletics Tennis 1804 Viewmont Drive San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 (805) 431 -6758 scott @creativeathletics.com scottcleere.usptapro.com united states professional tennis association