Sand volleyball. Photography by Miguel Tieirlinck via Unsplash.
Neighbors have mixed opinions about the proposed sand volleyball court for Tietze Park and are pushing for more public input.
District 14 Park and Recreation Board member Rudy Karimi and representatives from Friends of Tietze Park hosted a virtual meeting Thursday to gauge public interest in the proposed new amenity for the neighborhood park.
Friends of Tietze Park has been in discussions to add a court to the park since before COVID-19, and the group already has the funds to build the court, which would be near the northeast corner of the park. The city will contribute $25,000 through a fund-matching program, and Friends of Tietze Park has raised $25,000 on its own.
“It’s an opportunity for our parks to thrive, and it’s an opportunity for our neighborhoods to thrive with that partnership,” Karimi said.
Karimi, who lives blocks from the park, said the sand volleyball court is in line with the park department’s mission to champion recreation and steward public land well. There are only a few public sand volleyball courts, and this would be the first for District 14. The court may also be a good recreational option for teenagers. And it’s an opportunity for the community to share ownership of the resource, Karimi said, by lending a hand here and there to maintain the court; that could be something as simple as raking the court before and after use, or pulling a few weeds.
But that doesn’t mean the park department officially approved the project. The final decision to build the court would be made by Friends of Tietze Park.
When he’s not covering real estate and politics for the Advocate, Sam Gillespie spends his time making detailed presentations as vice president of Friends of Tietze Park.
During his presentation, Gillespie went over the nitty gritty of the court, addressing a few neighborhood concerns along the way.
Here are some of the key points about the court:
Location: Northeast corner of Tietze Park, south of the parking lot, along Clements Street; the area had previously been paved and used as a basketball court, and now it’s covered in grass.
Size: Total sand area is 73 feet by 46 feet, with a 12-inch concrete edge surrounding it; the court is regulation size, 52.5 feet by 26.25 feet.
Environmental impact: No trees would be affected.
Drainage: Water drains through the 24 inches of sand and four inches of gravel below it into two PVC pipes that connect into one PVC pipe. That PVC pipe is connected to the below-grade, 15-inch reinforced concrete pipe that collects water from the parking lot, runs south below the running path and into the curb and gutter system of Clements Street.
Lights: No lights are planned for the court.
Reservations: At least at the beginning, Friends of Tietze Park is not planning to require reservations to use the court.
Some neighbors have said that the court will become a feral cat litter box. But Gillespie said Friends of Tietze Park met with the maintenance manager for Lake Highlands Recreation Center, which has three sand volleyball courts. And at that meeting, Gillespie said, Friends of Tietze Park learned that the rec center has not found feces in the courts.
The main issue with the courts stemmed from the net, which wasn’t strong enough. But once that net was replaced with a more durable one, there haven’t been any significant issues, Gillespie said.
Members of the public had the opportunity to take a park department survey asking whether they supported the court. Of 325 answers, 202 were in favor of it, and 123 were against it.
Karimi responded to common concerns or questions from survey respondents.
The most common issue people brought up was that the sand would be used as a litter box for feral cats, but based on other courts in the city, this isn’t a huge problem.
Why a sand volleyball court instead of another tennis court or pickleball court? There isn’t enough room for another tennis court, and though there could be an option for multi-striping to make a pickleball court, Karimi said this is usually a better option for parks with more than one court. Also, he’s heard noise complaints from residents near other parks that have pickleball courts.
Why not a dog park? Dog parks require fencing. Off-leash dog parks just aren’t an option in Dallas, Karimi said. Plus, dog parks are very popular, and one at Tietze Park would likely bring in a lot of cars.
Why not invest in a new playground or more hours for the aquatic center? Those are both different conversations, Karimi said. Funding for a playground would likely come from the bond, and additional open hours for the aquatic center would mean additional staffing and other resources.
Won’t the court remove green space that kids use for soccer and flag football? Yes, it would take away some green space, but Karimi said he’s seen the outfield used more than the spot for the proposed court.
Jeff Skolnick, who lives near the park, said he is opposed to the proposed court. People may use the court and then hop in the pool to rinse off the sand, causing maintenance issues at the pool. He also said there are other things in the park that need work, including new rims on the basketball court and improvements to the drainage system.
“I don’t know how much it will be used, and I think it could actually have some detrimental effects,” Skolnick said.
Karimi said he would get started on the maintenance issues that need to be fixed, and he said the pool rules could be updated to prevent people from moving sand into the pool.
Neighbor Matthew Stafford, a longtime beach volleyball player, said the court’s construction would improve the drainage issue and stop water from pooling in the area.
“I’m not going to have to be ankle deep in water along that east side of the park,” Stafford said.
He also said that the sport is becoming popular for teenagers pursuing college scholarships.
Neighbor Leslie Raucher said the court might become a sandbox for toddlers and asked what could be done to keep young kids out of the sand. But a neighbor who lives on Vanderbilt viewed this as a positive thing, saying he thought it would be fun to take his grandkids to the court to play in the sand.
Karimi said unless there’s a health issue, he doesn’t see an issue with kids using the court for a sandbox. But if it becomes an issue, rules could be established.
“I don’t want to use reasons that we think could be problems to prevent us from doing things,” Karimi said.
Greg Gibson lives right across from where the court would be, and he said he is worried about the light, noise and crowds causing disruptions at night.
“I’m not sure that everybody that’s right around Vanderbilt, right around Tietze, wants people coming from miles around to use the court,” Gibson said.
Stafford said he agrees that the light is bright, but it’s not meant for the volleyball court. Because no lights are going to be added specifically for the volleyball court, it won’t be usable at night.
“I would argue it’s going to be a different crowd than a basketball court, for better or worse,” Stafford said. “And it’s going to be definitely different quantity of people and volume of people than the softball/kickball field.”
Neighbor Lisa Klinke said there hasn’t been enough community input and didn’t think that there was enough neighborhood representation on the meeting. Karimi said he would work to find ways to reach more people.
Matt Henry said he is in favor of the court and found about 90 other people in the neighborhood who agreed with him, based on a survey he shared online.
“There’s a big need for a court like this,” Henry said. “There’s only those couple public facilities. Otherwise, you have to go pay to play at a private facility.”
Karimi asked neighbors to submit feedback to Friends of Tietze Park; they can be reached at lhmarshall@sbcglobal.net.
