SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2018 | 7A
PARKS from page 6A
City staff have tried to ac-
commodate the picklers there,
resurfacing the courts and paint-
ing pickleball lines in light blue
to differentiate from the bright
white lines that mark the tennis
boundaries.
Those city-designated lines
have not been enough to hold
all of the picklers, so Griffin has
taken to chalking out additional
“courts” in the facility.
“I chalk out courts and this year
we’ve been able to play 16 people
at once, rather than just eight,” he
said. “We’ve been averaging 20
people showing up. And we went
as high as 28 one day.”
Griffin had gone to the city and
asked to turn some of the tennis
courts into pickleball dedicated
courts, but the city “didn’t want to
go that far, and I understand that
position completely,” Griffin said.
If Griffin really had his dru-
thers, the pickleball courts
wouldn’t infringe on the tennis
courts at all.
“I would like to see, for lack of a
better term, a pickleball complex,”
he said. “Six courts, perhaps, with
dedicated courts as opposed to
a pickleball court painted inside
tennis courts.”
The real pie in the sky would be
indoor and outdoor courts,
“And with that, I’m just con-
vinced that people would be com-
ing here to play,” Griffin said. “We
would run a few tournaments.
The first time I run a tournament,
it will not be the best, but with in-
put from people with knowledge
and more practice, we’ll run tour-
naments and tourism dollars will
just start coming in.”
Griffin, who has already seen
pickleball players coming in from
Eugene and Reedsport, believed
that dedicated courts would bring
an influx of cash into the commu-
nity and help stimulate economic
growth.
Sounds like the perfect addi-
tion to the region. So what’s the
plan to get it going?
“I have no idea,” Griffin said.
“Unfortunately for me, I am an
exhorter and I am coach. That is
how I was built by the Lord.”
He hopes that being a vocal
advocate for the sport will attract
people that would have knowl-
edge in such things and would be
willing to pick up the torch.
But even if or when he does
find such people, what would the
actual mechanism be for them to
build such a complex?
For that, we went to
City of Florence City
Manager Erin Reyn-
olds.
“Oh, Erin, the city
manager?”
Griffin
said. “Great person.”
staff to take care of
this acreage? Just 16,
including office staff
like Conrad.
“To bring that into
perspective, we have
six full-time rangers,”
he said. “They are
going out for compli-
“Limited parks
ance, looking at an-
dollars”
nual passes, looking
“I had heard about
for disturbances on
the passionate, excit-
our
campgrounds.
ed group of picklebal-
That’s not a lot.”
lers that showed up
Rangers can spend
to the Lane County
hours a day just driv-
Parks Plan,” Reynolds
ing between one park
JARED ANDERSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
said. “I don’t think
to the next, and it’s
anyone quite antici- Rolling Dunes Park, located at the corner of 35th Street and Siano Loop in not just maintaining
pated the interest in Florence, has the Siuslaw region’s only public tennis courts — marked in white — the parks that the
pickleball, but that and pickleball courts — marked in light blue. Sometimes more courts are added rangers have to deal
in chalk to allow more “picklers” to play.
does go to show how
with. They also work
excited they are and how much
with education, outreach and
“Our other park project is ballot in the near future.”
they love their sport.”
adding a new park, a river beach
These include projects like habitat restoration.
Attending the meeting was city access park on Rhododendron Miller Park, but also larger eco-
Lane County does all of this
Associate Planner Glenn Suther- Drive, and those are both signifi- nomic drivers like downtown re- with an annual budget of $3.5
land, who visited the pickleball cantly funded through grants,” vitalization.
million. To put that in perspec-
court the morning after the parks Reynolds said.
But if there’s no immediate tive, the City of Eugene alone has
meeting to speak with the players.
That’s not to say that the future plans now, what do the picklers $3 million in its parks budget, in-
He found some possibilities to of pickleball is out of the ques- do as their resources become cluding $1.1 million for site reno-
help the picklers in the near-term, tion. Once the new city council more and more taxed? They al- vations and rehabilitation, $1 mil-
including adding a few more lines is seated after this November’s ready have 12 people waiting lion for community and regional
and perhaps giving them a stor- elections, the city will begin goal around just to get a game in.
park development and $750,000
age space.
setting and planning for the next
“That’s just the tension of what for neighborhood and communi-
“Little things we can do now,” two years going forward.
is always there,” Reynolds said. ty parks acquisition.
Reynolds said.
“We have a lot of work every
“Pickleball and a few oth- “What we want right now, what
Reynolds, along with other er requests that are along those we can actually do and where day,” Conrad said. “But it pro-
city employees, had worked with lines for parks and quality of life, we’re going in the future.”
vides a lot of opportunities to do
Griffin in the past. He had come amenity type requests, will all be
When it does come time for the a number of things for a lot of op-
to city council meetings and considered and put into the equa- city to start entertaining the idea portunities. We can offer people
made requests for an indoor facil- tion to see what can be funded of a recreational center, or a full a number of different experienc-
ity or, at the very least, to modify and what can get done in the fol- blown pickleball complex, there’s es throughout the county. That’s
the existing tennis courts, which lowing two years,” Reynolds said. a lot of questions that will need to what I love about our parks sys-
the city did.
tem, it’s that we can do so much
But does that mean a pickleball be answered.
Griffin stated that it was a plea- complex will be on the docket in
Where would the complex go? for so many people.”
sure working with the city. But as long-term planning?
Some of those opportunities
What would the architectural de-
far as the big plans for a complex?
“We’re hesitant to do one fa- sign be? What will the complex laid out in the Lane County Parks
“We’d love to be able to say yes cility specific to one activity and cost? Are there grants available Master Plan includes some ro-
to everything, but unfortunate- that’s all it’s for,” she said.
for such a plan? These are a lot bust improvements to how the
ly we have very limited parks
It’s difficult for any city to fully of questions that have to be an- parks are run, including updating
dollars,” Reynolds said. “Typi- move forward on a project like a swered to begin such a project, the website to make it more user
cally, we do all of our park proj- pickleball complex without con- and as of right now, the current friendly and using apps to con-
ects through grant funding and sidering other sports. If it spent staffing levels can’t handle the re- nect people to parks with ameni-
through community grassroots $500,000 on a complex, what search it would take to look into ties like self-guided tours.
efforts. The great thing about about all the other sports out such a grand project.
Lane County is also looking to
pickleball is that we have a good there? Shouldn’t they get an in-
“It’s not a lack of wanting to,” encourage more usage for those
grassroots group starting. We un- vestment too?
Reynolds said. “It’s a lack of re- with disabilities, pointing out that
fortunately just have not had the
“We know there’s a greater need sources and human capacity on the parks have few handicapped
funds to match with that grant and desire in the community for the city side for a pretty special parking spaces and not much in
funding, and it’s one activity ver- a community recreation center, interest group project.”
the way for visually impaired or
sus maybe something that can get or a parks and rec program that’s
And staffing issues aren’t just hardscaped paths for people to
people interested on a wider scale more robust than what they city a problem with the City of Flor- go on.
in our community.”
Another issue the park has
already provides,” Reynolds said. ence.
As of now, the priority is im-
is outdated signage around the
But right now, the city is not
proving Miller Park through a currently in the process for plan-
park.
Resources
$500,000 project that will bring a ning that.
“Some people come into our
“With the small number of
new concession stand, bathroom,
“We’re just not there,” Reyn- staff, we’re busy,” Conrad said in parks and the trails aren’t well
better accessibility in trail walk- olds said. “We’ve quite a few large the Parks meeting.
marked. Signs have outdated in-
ing around the park and other priority and significant capital
Lane county operates a total formation that isn’t organized
improvements to the field.
projects. We’re just looking at it of 68 parks, including camp- well,” said Lane County Public
in the context of the community grounds, marinas and water ac- Works Director Dan Hurley. “We
and trying to be sensitive to other cess ramps. They cover a little don’t want our parks to be stag-
larger items that are going on the over 43,000 acres of space. The nant and just expect people to
come. They have to be vibrant,
where we’re adapting to people’s
interests.”
With those improvements in
the pipeline, and such limited re-
sources to manage them, focusing
on creating a pickleball complex
Sending
out an
SOS
would not be in the immediate
cards.
But Lane County is institut-
ing a mechanism that could help
groups like the picklers get their
plans in motion.
“One plan I really like is to cre-
ate a 501(c)(3) umbrella friends’
group,” Hurley said. “It’s a very
important tax status for a group
to organize so they can be a non-
profit. We can’t just give money
to a group of individuals without
accounting on that. It’s hard for
a new group to form a nonprofit
and there’s an expense to it. Our
thought is, if we could create an
umbrella nonprofit and help to
get that going to coordinate new
friends’ groups or communica-
tion between friends’ groups.”
This potential umbrella group
could help small friends’ groups
get the funding and organization
needed to help along projects like
a pickleball complex.
Working with well-organized
friends’ groups is vital for the suc-
cess of any large-scale project, ac-
cording to Reynolds.
“[The picklers] need the city
and the city needs them,” she said.
“It really has to be symbiotic and
working together through the
whole process. So, if they have
that energy and the desire, we
could work with them and they
could fundraise toward a city
pickleball park project.”
While the city does not have
an umbrella project in mind like
Lane County does, there is a lo-
cal organization that can help
the picklers, and any other recre-
ational organization that is look-
ing for a home, help realize their
goals.
The Siuslaw Vision 2025 proj-
ect, which is in its fourth year,
just finished hosting a statewide
conference where communities
and cities gathered to talk about
growth and how cities are work-
ing together to build up regions
within the state.
Along the way, Vision repre-
sentatives gave a step-by-step
guideline on how the idea of a
pickleball complex could give
fruition to a larger recreational
complex in the Siuslaw region,
the economic importance of such
programs how community mem-
bers can work together to make it
all happen.
Read more in Saturday’s edi-
tion of the Siuslaw News.
The Rolling Dunes pickleball
games are held Monday, Wednes-
day and Friday from 8:30 to 11
a.m., located at 35th Street in
Florence. No preregistration re-
quired. For more information, visit
w w w. p l a c e s 2 p l a y. o r g / c i t y /
florence-oregon.
To read more about the Lane
County Parks Master Plan, and
to take an online survey about the
plan, visit www.lanecounty.org.
Siuslaw Outreach Services (SOS),
1576 12th St., is actively recruiting vol-
unteers for the front desk. These special
volunteers greet clients and support SOS
staff. Most volunteers cover a four-hour
shift once per week. All training is pro-
vided. For more info, call 541-997-2816,
email lori@florencesos.org or stop by.
Open
Monday –Saturday
11am-9pm
August 31st is our 11th anniversary
of serving traditional mexican cuisine to
this community we love so much.
Our family & staff thank you for your continued support.
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