CROA began working with Celebration residents to find a location in our Community for Pickleball in 2013. “Our Pickleball Club Story” on the Celebration Pickleball Club website attempts to capture the many events that occurred over the last 10 years regarding this effort.
For more detailed timeline information, please click here
Over the years the sites that were used and/or considered for a permanent location included:
The link below is to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that will provide more detail on the process and answers to common questions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) can be found here
Currently the club rents a single tennis court in Georgetown. We “fit” 4 portable Pickleball nets on the one tennis court. The spacing is not sufficient, fences are dangerously close to the courts and balls roll into other courts while playing. On a tennis court when playing doubles there are 4 people on the surface. In Pickleball we have 16 people playing on the same surface. We rent the court space, pay for all equipment, nets, balls, leaf blower, squeezes etc. Since 2019 the club has raised $13,500 to cover these expenses.
In February 2022 on the Pickleball roster we had 177 residents and 70 locals for a total of 247 people. Evaluating the resident mix with the locals it’s 72%. At that same time soccer had a 63% mix. An update of the roster in March 2023 has 265 residents and 133 local guests/snowbirds for a total of 398 members in the database. There is no strict requirement to register. Many new players are discouraged from participation due to the inability to have access to courts to learn to play at a social level. The lack of adequate lighting prevents working adults from having a playing option and having the ability to utilize the courts in the cooler evening hours.
The scope of the project has gone from an initial 12 courts with one handicapped as directed by the board to now an 8-court configuration. Most recently with the Lot D plan the courts included a new lighted parking lot and the cleanup/leveling of the west field on the lot. KPM Franklin, our design partner in the “design, bid, build” process prepared the documents for the RFP, here is a link to that package.
The RFP with the full Lot D Scope was sent by Calic, our owner representative, to these eight companies, only two companies responded. Here is a link to the RFP document.
The primary reason for not responding was “size of project” and “schedule”, meaning they are busy.
The RFP was structured and distributed by Calic as our “owner rep”. Calic is an active company at Disney World. (Link to Calic Scope of work) (Link to Calic Qualification Questions)
There have been two prior projects on the Civic Corridor, the Dog Park and the Soccer Complex. The site costs for fill, grading and water management have added significantly to any project in the Corridor. Here is a link to a summary of the Corridor costs as of July 15, 2019.
The scope for Lot D has now been reduced to capture pricing for two options:
Poli Bid based on this scope of work is pending.
The annual maintenance and replacement costs of the new courts are estimated in this document.
KPM Franklin Design / Construction Documents for Lot D
Poli reduced Scope Bid – TBD
Estimated Annual Pickleball Court Maintenance
Civic Corridor Prior Project Costs
Pickleball Presentation to CROA Board (August 25, 2021)
Board Resolution for Pickleball Task Force (June 23 Board Meeting)
Community Call for Task Force Volunteers Notice