PBCP PUBLIC PLAYERS UPDATE

Thank you to all  who attended the meeting - here is a summary:

We discussed how Scott discovered that PBF players have access to the courts, at no charge, from opening to closing, while public players cannot enter the facility between 12-4 unless they have paid for a court reservation or program.  This issue is discussed on our Blog: https://pelicanbaypickleball.com/blog/f/open-play-%E2%80%94-all-day

Scott has been in touch with the PBF and the County about this.  Later that day, the County said we would begin to have open play from 12-4,  but we are waiting for the details in writing.  

We asked the County how many public members have joined. They did not know the number but said the PBF told them that recently, more public players than PBF players have entered the facility on a daily basis.

Why having 10 dedicated public courts is so important—and why sharing all 20 courts with PBF players puts public access at risk, even if that risk isn’t always visible.
In a November 2025 meeting, we shared a PBF transcript with the PBF head of tennis/pickleball operations.  The transcript describes a “detailed operations analysis” conducted by a Pelican Bay committee that found ways to limit public usage so that Pelican Bay members could have more than 50% usage. The transcript is below.

Sharing the transcript was intended to make it clear that we are aware of attempts to limit public access, in hopes that it would prevent future manipulation. However, shortly afterward, public Open Play was blocked from 12:00–4:00, and public players were required to pay, while Pelican Bay residents continued to play for free.

This is exactly the risk of shared courts. When courts are combined, PBF management can quietly control schedules and  access to reduce public usage in ways that are difficult to detect.

This is only one example of why we can't trust the PBF management. If courts are combined, PBF management can manipulate schedules and access in ways that reduce public usage—without it being obvious or easily measurable. 

The only way to guarantee that the public actually receives 50% court usage, as required by our Amendment, is to have 10 public courts. 

Importantly, Commissioner Hall and County Parks & Recreation support having 10 public courts. They are familiar with this transcript and with the extensive review process that led to our Amendment’s approval. If we don’t implement the 10 public courts now—when we have that support—we may not get another opportunity in the future under different leadership. The PBF has a 30-year management contract — it is critical to establish protections for the public that will last 30 years.

No one is happy about losing the ability to play with PBF players all the time. We all enjoy playing with our PBF friends, they are wonderful people. But we have to prioritize what is necessary to protect the public over the next 30 years. 

Please don't blame the County or the Public Advisory Group for this situation. The blame lies with the PBF management and PBF board, who announced in their meeting, “I have very high confidence that what I said at the last meeting, that we’ll have more than 50% usage, in practice will actually occur.”   

Please read the transcript below, this was not an off the cuff remark, he described a group project whose objective was to restrict public access to the courts. The facility has been open for a month and they have already implemented a plan to limit public access.   PBF management has already shown—through both words and actions—an intent to limit public access. Keeping the courts combined would would invite continued manipulation and make meaningful enforcement of public access impossible.

Dedicated public courts don’t rule out mixed play, we just have to be creative to find ways to make this happen. If you would like to collaborate with other public players and PBF players to share ideas on this, please let me know, email: pelicanbaypublicpickleball@gmail.com

Pelican Bay Foundation Member Meetings: 7/24/23 & 8/8/23

Any PBF member should have access to the full transcripts for these meetings.

A Pelican Bay Board member’s statements telling Pelican Bay residents that they will have more than 50% court usage. This Board member was not acting alone, he was on a committee that collaborated on a plan to, “Maximize the usage for Pelican Bay members.”  This is why PBF management cannot be trusted and why there must be 10 dedicated public courts.

On 7/24/23, the Foundation held a meeting for its members about the project. 

Partial Transcript:

Foundation member asks:

“The private access to 10 of the courts seems to be off the table now, and Pelican Bay access to these courts will just have to somehow be managed by the Foundation?”

A Pelican Bay Board member answered, “On the access to the courts; we’ve actually done some pretty detailed operations analysis on how to actually maximize the usage for Pelican Bay members. We think we’re going to end up getting way more than 10 courts worth of usage if we manage it the way I described. I want to give us the chance to use more than 10 of the courts, to be honest.”

Two weeks later, on 8/8/23, the Foundation held a meeting for its members about the project.

Pelican Bay resident question:

“We were originally told that Foundation members would have private access to 10 of the 20 pickleball courts. We were told 2 weeks ago, at the Foundation Board meeting, that we would share the courts with non-Foundation members and would get quote, ‘Way more than 50% usage of the courts.’”

Pelican Bay Board member answered:

“The reason we chose to call it 50% is that we didn’t want to limit ourselves to just 10 courts. On a practical basis, if we choose to run it 10 and 10 during season, that’s strictly up to us. We’ve given ourselves operational control, which the County was reluctant to do. They’ve basically given us operational control now. So, I have very high confidence that what I said at the last meeting, that we’ll have more than 50% usage, in practice will actually occur.”