Bainbridge Island is in a pickle regarding its swimming pool, and tennis and pickleball facilities.

After long discussions at its most recent meeting, the BI Metro Parks and Recreation District commissioners decided to keep working on solutions for each.

There was a lot of public comment on the tennis-pickleball predicament:

Paul Sullivan, Bainbridge Community Tennis Association board president, along with Charles Hanlon, Susan Oblak, Edith Cobourn, Kathleen Dassel, Jennifer Friedrichwood and Marc Garcia spoke in support of maintaining shared tennis courts at Battle Point Park. But Melissa Bang-Knudsen, John Shae, Steve Jensen and Lise Newman felt just the opposite—wanting to turn over the shared courts to pickleball. Dawn Snider wants to maintain the shared courts there, at least until new tennis courts are built at Sakai Park.

Loanne Harmeling, Pete Prekeges, youth Briar Grappone and Paul Simpson spoke in support of tennis courts, while youth George Vaughan, David Starkman, Mark Mumm and Therese Caouette spoke in support of pickleball. Krysta Barton and Clay Roberts spoke in favor of more space for pickleball, and Erin Phillips spoke of sport-specific sites and in support of pickleball.

Harvey Gilbert spoke in support of an online court reservation system, while Bill Walker spoke in support of painting pickleball lines and putting pickleball nets on all the tennis courts on BI. Scott Bailey wants recreational opportunities for tennis and pickleball, and Connie Ballou wants new tennis courts at Battle Point instead of Sakai. Nancy Nolan said the board got rid of two tennis courts at Waterfront Park and spoke in support of tennis courts.

Commissioner Tom Swolgaard said parks did not remove the tennis courts at Waterfront—that was the city of Bainbridge Island. He thinks that the community needs to work together and make the court situation work for everyone.

Commissioner Ken DeWitt said he has a concern about turning over the shared tennis courts to pickleball right away. Once the new tennis courts are built, he may have a different approach. He knows that the staff has been living with the pickleball/tennis issue for 15 years. A motion was passed to direct executive director Terry Lande to meet with two representatives from pickleball, tennis and staff to resolve the issue regarding shared courts at Battle Point.

To begin the discussion, Park Services Division director Dan Hamlin gave the long history of the issue, starting in 2008, when the Bainbridge Community Tennis Association asked for up to six new tennis courts at Battle Point.

Decisions were delayed for various reasons until outdoor public tennis court availability was impacted in 2015 when the BI school district closed the high school campus during school hours. There have been conversations about making the tennis courts available to the public during school hours because they are fenced, but there has been no change in policy. In 2016 pickleball got a footprint on the tennis courts at Battle Point, impacting the availability of those courts for tennis.

In 2019 staff conducted a study that showed pickleball use at more than 40% of available hours—more than double the use by tennis. In 2020 six pickleball courts were built at Battle Point. The tennis courts at Battle Point have remained multi-use with tennis having priority. A study was conducted that found that tennis courts would be appropriate at Battle Point, Sakai Park and Strawberry Hill Park. Since then Strawberry Hill Park has been removed from the list due to the need to remove high-value trees.

There is a need to limit additional impervious surfaces at Battle Point due to stormwater concerns. It was recently decided by the board to build two tennis courts at Sakai Park.

While pickleball play has increased exponentially and tennis play has remained consistent, conflicts on the shared tennis courts have increased. Commissioner Dawn Janow said the courts at Sakai will be dedicated for tennis and will not be multipurpose.

Pool update

Park Services superintendent David Harry introduced Stemper Architecture Collaborative president Melody Leung and project manager Lalo Bello. They were hired to do the initial condition assessment, cost estimate, and to put together a preliminary schedule for the Ray Williamson Pool renovation. Leung said the comprehensive condition assessment was submitted to the park district previously along with a general costing of the 16 critical items that need to be addressed for the pool to remain open and to extend the life of systems that are in danger of shutting down and failing at an unknown point.

The strategy is to time the construction for the period of the year when the outdoor pool at BI Recreation Center is available. Pool closure is inevitable, and the schedule will be revised once a contractor is on board. The goal is to have construction start in the spring of 2024 and go through late fall.

Swolgaard asked how an eight-month shutdown of the pool would work with programming. Lande said staff identified the period when there will be the least impact on programming.

Staff is working to see how the Don Nakata pool and the BIRC pool can help alleviate that. The board amended a contract to move the project forward through design, construction administration and oversight of the project. With the additional work ahead of Stemper and the original $111,000 contract, the amended contract will come to $591,000.

Janow is committed to getting the community a pool that will last for the next 20 years.

Commissioner Jay Kinney read comments into the record for Commissioner Tom Goodlin, who was unable to attend the meeting:

Goodlin’s remarks say a nine-month shutdown for pool repairs is untenable to most parks and school sports and training programs at the Aquatic Center. If the BIMPRD can select specific repair items from a priorities list to complete in the upcoming year, then it should be possible to shorten the shutdown.

He also says the board is planning a community survey that will gauge public support for larger capital projects, with results anticipated this fall. Wouldn’t the results help the board to consider the appropriate balance between costs to repair the Ray Williamson Pool and the potential investment in a larger replacement pool? If so, then waiting on existing pool non-urgent repairs seems well advised.