Letter to the Editor Regarding the Indoor Tennis Courts by: Martha Crosley

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STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS, YOUR MONEY, AND YOUR PARK

As you may well know, the Evansville Community Tennis Association (ECTA) has received approval from the Evansville Parks Board to build a 43,000 sq ft (one acre) building containing 6 tennis courts and amenities on the large open green space adjacent to the existing tennis courts in Wesselman Park. In addition, they also plan to build 6 more concrete courts plus a paved parking lot.

Many people, including a BIPARTISAN group of elected city and county office holders and candidates in the upcoming election, people in ward 3, and others in the community, find this proposal TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. We do not object to the sport of tennis. We do find the location for this large construction project and business venture very inappropriate and find that ECTA would receive considerable advantage over the city and its people. Please consider the following:

1. The land proposed for the ECTA courts is the LAST REMAINING LARGE OPEN GREEN SPACE in the park which can be used for unstructured activities (creative play and personal pursuits vs organized sports). These inventive activities play an important role in child development and adult health. The ECTA efforts will turn multiuse public land into single use for a VERY SMALL NUMBER of Evansville’s citizens. The current courts sit UNUSED most of the time.

2. A BUSINESS WILL USE THESE FACILITIES to teach tennis lessons. A business on public land produces many inequalities and advantages when compared to other businesses. Such a mix of public and private rights and obligations can be CONFUSING AT BEST AND UNLAWFUL AT WORST.

3. The ECTA will build and maintain these structures and rent the land from the city for $1.00 per year. Meanwhile the ECTA will teach classes, hold tournaments, operate concession stands, and derive money in other ways while GIVING NO MONEY BACK to the people of Evansville. The CITY WILL PAY the electric, water, and sewer bills for this facility. The ECTA will have their facility and a private business will continue to make money ALL AT THE PUBLIC EXPENSE while the public will have lost a valuable piece of park land that can NEVER be recovered and will CONTINUE TO LOSE MONEY as utility rates climb.

4. The natural field in Wesselman Park on which the ECTA project is to be located is an excellent STORM WATER containment system. Should this proposed building occur, this natural system of water absorption will be negated and more load will be put on our ALREADY STRESSED SEWERS. It goes without saying that this would DISRUPT THE SURROUNDING NATURAL ENVIRONMENT of both plants and animals. The ECTA shows us NO ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES to support their position.

5. Although the ECTA states it will bring tourism to our city, the CVB did not see the possibility as significant enough to invest in the project. The EFFECTS ON TOURISM WOULD BE MINIMAL.

6. The AESTHETICS involved in placing a building which covers an acre of land, and concrete paving that would cover an additional acre plus is not acceptable. This would not fit with the natural beauty of the park that the citizens of Evansville now enjoy. In fact it would look UGLY AND OUT OF PLACE.

MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
CONCERNING THE ECTA TENNIS PROPOSAL
AND ZONING VARIANCE:
THURSDAY OCT. 20, 2011 at 4:00 PM
ROOM 301 CITY-COUNTY BLDG

THIS IS A PUBLIC MEETING

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

9 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you Martha Crosley and Sylvia Niemeier for your attention to this matter.

    As the candidate for 3rd Ward City Council, I am aware that there will be a very large effort to stop this maneuvering. The Board of Zoning should expect a larger than normal attendance at their October 20th meeting. I will be in attendance.

    Alan Leibundguth
    Republican Candidate, Evansville City Council, Ward 3

  2. Several statements in the protest letter are not substantiated facts but really just opinions. ECTA while spending their own funds and improving a largely unused area of the park will maintain their facility– improve park usage– improve Evansville by showing needed development as proof of a dymanic place to live and help to change our reputation as a staid do nothing community always bickering among our selves while accomplishing little.

    • Any way you spin it it’s still a private enterprise using public land as a taxpayer supported subsidy which makes it unacceptable, now if the ECTA was willing to pay a couple grand a month back to the taxpayers for use of the property on a long term lease that would be a deal changer.

      JMHO

      • There still is plenty of open space for sale in the section of land surrounding the Goebel Soccer Park. Some of the land already is zoned commercial. If ECTA prefers land on the east side and inside the city limits, there also is a huge chunck of commercial zoned property in the Martin Development between Burkhardt Road and Cross Pointe Blvd. ECTA should go buy some land, build a facility, and compete with the existing tennis club.

  3. I can’t believe this proposal is even being considered. We need to clean up our parks NOT mess up our parks.

  4. If the city is going to fund this project by underwriting utility expenses, donating land, and giving total property tax relief, then the city ought to build the facility and operate it like it does for other park amenities in town. Examples would Swonder ice and Hartke pool. An organization of volunteers should not be completely in charge of a multi-million dollar city asset. ECTA grants a for profit tennis teaching firm exclusive rights to courts during peak tennis hours. Go read the signs posted on the courts. If Joe public wanted to reserve a court to teach and charge a fee, ECTA would boot him off the courts. ECTA is shilling for the principles ofa defunct tennis club. Indoor courts would just add to the ability of this organization to continue to direct profits to their friends. Go see the teaching pros at Wesselmans and see what they consider “non-profit”

    • Thanks for your post. Please attend the BZA meeting on Oct 20 @ 4:00 in Rm 301. We must show the BZA point by point that even with the Park Board approval that this type of expansion in Wesselman Park benefits no one degree except ECTA.

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