Though a request for town funding for a fifth platform tennis court at Waveny didn’t survive this budget season, officials say that with some leg work on private fundraising to offset the approximately $70,000 cost, the project could get underway next summer.
At least some of the money for that project—say, $30,000—would need to be raised privately (there are established men’s and women’s paddle leagues who use the courts), according to Recreation Director Steve Benko.
Platform Tennis Courts at Waveny
“There’s a need for the extra court, especially in the evening, guys want to play and they can’t get the extra court so they don’t try, that fifth court would give us some flexibility,” Benko told NewCanaanite.com.
Between individual and family permit-holders, there are about 300 players in New Canaan for this 2013-14 season, Benko said. Permit-holders must be residents, though they can bring guests. The courts are open at 9 a.m., seven days a week, and stay open as late as 9:30 p.m. most nights (the lights go out through a timer at 10 p.m.) Part of the reason a need for a fifth court has emerged is that reservations at the court have expanded from 1-hour to 90-minute slots, creating less overall available playing time for locals, Benko said.
A fifth court likely would be built out toward Spencer’s Run, and whatever land was consumed would be extended at the opposite side of the popular Waveny dog park, Benko said.
“That part of the dog park [where a fifth court would be installed] is on a big hill, so you could take a 20-by-60-foot section on the other side, which is flatter land that people would actually use,” Benko said.
If the platform tennis players organize this year and fundraise prior to the next budget cycle, Benko said he would put in again for a complementary contribution from the town toward building the extra court, to put a shovel in the ground after July 1, 2015.