Despite a petition and series of public comments to the Habersham County Board of Commissioners, tennis players in Habersham County will be losing some of their court space at the aquatic center complex.
The county commission voted in August 2021 to bring six pickleball courts to the aquatic center complex by resurfacing two of the complex’s current tennis courts. There was no objection from the public until just a few weeks ago when a petition circulated asking commissioners to reconsider resurfacing the courts.
“These tennis courts are very crowded as is, and removing half of them would make that problem much worse,” petition organizer Forrest Hudgins wrote. “Rather than create another problem, the county needs to just build separate [pickleball] courts that do not interfere with the heavily trafficked tennis courts.”
The petition received nearly 400 signatures, and at the county’s January commission meeting, tennis players turned out to voice their opinions on the proposed resurfacing.
“Very few of us in the tennis community, or even county citizens as a whole, knew about this proposed change,” Christopher Watson, a North Habersham Middle School teacher and community tennis player said. “We [tennis players] are pretty upset about losing our courts— I’m very upset, actually. The tennis players who frequent these courts 3-5 times a week with several of our tennis friends and other players, who are present here tonight, are extremely disappointed in this decision and we strongly desire that you rethink and discuss this plan.”
Watson says that many middle and high school students use the courts at night because they’re the only tennis courts that are lighted after they’re done with their school day.
Habersham Central High School tennis player Luke Atwood, who voiced his concerns at the Feb. 21 meeting, says he works at the Orchard Country Club, who resurfaced some of their tennis courts to become pickleball courts. He said that people at the club are often waiting for tennis courts to play on, while there are open pickleball courts.
Watson says that the number of tennis players in the county “far outweigh” the number who play pickleball, and Atwood says that pickleball is a sport for seniors, not one younger people participate in.
“Pickleball is an older person’s sport, meaning retirees, meaning they have pretty much all day to play,” Atwood said. “As a high schooler, I go to school from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and work until 5:30 p.m. … by the time I get off of work, if I go to play tennis, it’s dark. I need good lighting. The only courts with good lighting are at the Ruby C. Fulbright Aquatic Center.”
But Pickleball Ambassador Peggy Fortson, who made the pickleball case to the commissioners in June and has been heavily involved in bringing pickleball to the forefront of governing bodies county-wide, had a response.
“I know there are many, many times when the activity on the tennis courts does not equal the activity on the pickleball courts,” Fortson said. She says that their numbers continue to grow, not just locally, but nationwide, as tennis stays stagnant. She said that when she last spoke to a contractor who surfaced courts, the contactor told her that they’d surfaced several pickleball courts this year, but no tennis courts.
White County recently moved forward with resurfacing their pickleball courts after their five years of popular use. The resurfacing project was funded 86 percent by the Yonah Mountain Pickleball Club, who worked with the county to have them installed.
Commission Chairman Bruce Palmer expressed his frustrations with the community that no one came forward to share their concerns sooner, nor provided data to back up their claims, unlike Fortson did when she began campaigning for the pickleball courts.
“Months ago, the pickleball players came in and presented information, and I’ve seen the post on Facebook about having to wait on courts and all that because of people playing pickleball, why have y’all not said something before now?” Chairman Bruce Palmer said following public comment.
Habersham County Parks and Recreation Director Kurt Cooper says that both groups are active— but pickleball seems to be active year-round.
“We watch the tennis courts all day every day,” Cooper told Now Habersham. “Pickleball is very active. Coming into the springtime with warmer evenings, I expect to see tennis players back out on the courts.”
Cooper says that producing additional courts instead of repaving the tennis courts would cost the county millions of dollars, rather than the $87,075 currently budgeted that the pickleball club has offered to cover in part.
Cooper says that plans to resurface the courts haven’t changed, and the county will begin to review proposals for the project Monday.
