Vote NO on Articles 19 & 20: Pickleball & Rhododendrons Part 2 — The Pros and Cons
A couple days ago, Focus on Weston published an article where we reviewed the Community Preservation Act (CPA for the Act, versus the CPC for the Committee), its implementation in Weston, the projects completed to date, and their financial implications. We continue today with the arguments for and against the CPC proposals to spend $1.9 million for new pickleball and tennis courts, and design funds for an ultimately $375,000 Case Estates Rhododendron Garden. We urge you to attend the Annual Town Meeting on May 8th, and to VOTE NO on these CPC proposals (Articles 19 and 20).
What’s Pickleball?
Pickleball is a sport much like tennis, ideally played on a dedicated smaller court with a 2-inch lower net (34” versus 36”), but is often played on tennis courts having additional lines painted on. It has been growing in popularity and, as of 2021, was played by 1.4% of the U.S. population. It is viewed by some as being particularly suited to older people, as the smaller courts require less running around than tennis. Weston has a few such additionally pickleball-marked tennis courts, and according to the proponents, Weston’s pickleball Facebook group reportedly has 58 members, of whom 28 use a special app to schedule matches among themselves. Dedicated pickleball courts have been built in a few communities nationwide, including Wellesley, though it has created some controversy there and elsewhere as the special pickleball racquets and balls make it much noisier than tennis, angering residents in the neighborhoods where the courts are located.
What is the Pickleball and Tennis Proposal?
Pickleball was identified as a possible project in the town’s Recreation Master Plan, but design funds of $85,000 were voted down at last year’s Annual Town Meeting in May. The unchanged proposal resurfaced at the Special Town Meeting a few months later, that time with CPC sponsorship, and passed. At the time, it was noted that the final project would cost about $750,00 to complete. Although the Finance Committee opposed it the first time and supported it the second time, they noted that many currently existing facilities like the Burchard Park tennis courts were not being adequately maintained, and that tending to what we already have should be a higher priority.
The current proposal is to spend a total of $1.9 million to:
Construct 6 new dedicated pickleball courts in a now wooded area to be cleared near the entrance of Burchard Park, within two fenced enclosures
Completely rebuild the two tennis courts and their fenced enclosure nearby, and
Expand the adjacent halfcourt basketball court to full court scale in its own fenced enclosure
Rather than risking a single all-or-nothing vote at Town Meeting, the CPC is proposing the project as three separate motions under Article 20. The first motion will propose the entire $1.9 million project, but if that fails, a second motion will propose only the pickleball courts at $1.24 million (versus the original $750,000 noted last year), and if both of those fail, a third motion will propose only the tennis and basketball reconstruction at $920,000.
Why Not $1.9 Million for New Pickleball and Tennis Courts?
Separate from the idea of clearing a now-wooded area or the noise (and whether the retired Catholic priests living at the Campion Center care, or will care once they hear it), there are fundamentally two reasons for voting down this proposal – uncertain demand, with potential unintended consequences such as attracting high non-resident use, and the very high cost of this use of limited Weston CPA funds.
With only a few dozen Weston residents now actively playing pickleball, we are relying on what the proponents say, “If you build it, they will come.” On one hand, only a very small percentage of people anywhere play pickleball, and this currently hyped sport could be a passing fad, like racquetball was. Racquetball was the fastest-growing sport in America during the 1970s and 1980s. Sports clubs around the country started building racquetball courts, but by the 1990s, the excitement wore off and racquetball declined, so gyms and sports clubs began converting their racquetball courts for other activities. On the other hand, if pickleball continues to grow in popularity, we may see an influx of players from neighboring towns, so Weston residents may not even be able to get onto the courts they paid for.
And for what is being proposed, the cost is extraordinary. Weston’s Wightman Tennis Club recently got independent estimates for concrete courts similar to the CPC proposal, of $175,000 for three pickle ball courts with fencing, about the same for one new tennis court, and $60,000 for a half-size basketball court with fencing (though none have been built yet). And a Weston resident with real estate properties recently wrote us, "I... have been putting in Pickleball courts for 15 years. While I’m sure inflation plays a part, our average cost per court is $25,000 [so] we could have put in three courts for that $85,000 [already spent] to study the matter.” With these data points, the $1.24 million for Town pickleball courts (or even $750,000 as initially indicated) seems imprudent. Considering the many other high-impact Weston CPA projects over the years, there are certainly higher-priority options for spending our limited CPA dollars.
Similarly, repairing and maintaining the two tennis courts at Burchard Park could be done much more economically. The consultant report provided to the CPC detailed three renovation options (including contingencies and soft costs):
Crack repair and resurfacing at $137,000, or
New asphalt courts at $392,000, or
Post-tension concrete courts as now proposed at $556,000.
Why $920,000 instead of $556,000, let alone the $137,000 for resurfacing, which seems more in order given the current condition of the courts?
What is the Rhododendron Garden and Where Is It?
Weston purchased the 62-acre Case Estates property (including land where Land’s Sake now operates) from Harvard University in 2016, after a decade-long legal dispute over pesticide contamination in the soil, a legacy of decades of farming there. Tucked back in the woods, across Alphabet Lane from the Weston Community Center, is the remnant of a roughly half-acre Rhododendron Garden that the Case Sisters planted in the early-1900s, inspired by rhododendron and azalea gardens they had seen in Japan. In the early 1980s, when the property was still owned by Harvard, the Rhododendron Society and Arnold Arboretum rejuvenated the garden, but it has been untended for many years and has largely returned to nature, overgrown with native trees, shrubs, and ground covering plants.
What is the Rhododendron Garden Proposal?
In Warrant Article 19, the CPC is proposing a $20,000 feasibility study to plan for once again rejuvenating this garden, at an estimated eventual total cost of $375,000, not including any ongoing maintenance costs. This study would include, first, a complete environmental review since it is located in an EPA “Activity and Use Limitation Area” due to the pesticide residues. It would then entail partial clearing of the overgrowth, to see what (if anything) remains at this point, detailed surveys of both the land and any remaining plants that might be worth trying to save, preliminary landscape design, and cost estimates for the entire rejuvenation project.
Why Not $375,000 for a Rhododendron Garden?
Rhododendrons are poisonous to humans, dogs and other mammals, and to many pollinators, including honeybees. Indeed, the toxic nectar of some species causes bees to produce “mad honey”, which was used historically by European armies as a weapon of war. Unlike during the days of the Case Sisters, recent trends in gardening favor native species over non-native hybrids, in support of local pollinators and other wildlife. Rhododendrons are not native to New England, but rather indigenous to southern Appalachia (especially Virginia and North Carolina) and Asia, and they tend to be invasive. Again, this is a questionable and extremely expensive proposal. Also, it is does not account for ongoing garden maintenance, which could be very expensive and a continuing Town expense, and without which this Secret Garden would again return to nature. Why spend even $20,000 exploring something we should never do?
CPA funds are not “free money” nor should they be spent without careful planning. We hope that after Town Meeting, the Finance Committee does indeed pursue with the CPC and Select Board, a discussion of Weston’s CPA plans and priorities, with a goal of ensuring some financial rationality and broad consensus.
We urge you to attend the Annual Town Meeting on Monday, May 8 at Weston High School, and to VOTE NO on these CPC proposals (Articles 19 and 20).