public outrage<\/a> over the original plan. But he was baffled as to why people are now incensed over pickleball courts.<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t get the hostility,\u201d Herbst said. \u201cI really don\u2019t. I think the addition of pickleball courts adds another amenity that other folks are going to want to utilize. It appeals to a different segment of the community. Maybe at 70 you want to play pickleball and not basketball anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve Glassman, the district commissioner, had staff display aerial shots of the beach along with renderings showing the redesign.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hear people say, \u2018They\u2019re taking over the beach,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cSo let\u2019s see how we\u2019re taking over the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up popped one of the drone views.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably one of the widest areas of sand on the beach,\u201d Glassman said. \u201cNext slide please.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at all that sand. Look at all that space people can use. Next slide. Basketball courts staying where they are. And just a little to the left is where (the turf and gym equipment) is going to go. And pickleball courts will go right to the south.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, the commission approved the plan 4-1.<\/p>\n
Vice Mayor Ben Sorensen voted no, saying he thought the plan needed more work.<\/p>\n
Critics and fans lined up Tuesday night to share their thoughts before the commission vote.<\/p>\n
Resident Bret Ribotsky argued the commission should approve the plan without a single change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe environmental impact of these courts (is) minimal,\u201d he said. \u201cThey occupy a relatively small footprint in an already developed recreational area. No beach access is being eliminated.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo private beach club is being created. Fort Lauderdale has an opportunity to create something unique, iconic beachfront pickleball courts that can instantaneously become recognizable throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Resident Leo Lorenz said planners needed to come up with a new design.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single day there\u2019s somebody out there on the courts or at the exercise areas utilizing the spaces,\u201d Lorenz said. \u201cYou\u2019re (moving) the exercise area from the basketball courts. And all the basketball players use the exercise area. We don\u2019t want to have to go hiking from one end all the way down to the other end to work out in between games. We want to keep all that together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some speakers questioned whether the redesign would force the removal of trees that have provided shade to that section of beach for decades.<\/p>\n
Five out of 26 palms will be removed along with one Australian pine, city officials say. But 80 additional trees will be planted in the area, including 65 palms.<\/p>\n
People also said they were concerned about losing some of the picnic tables and grills. The plan is to replace 16 tables and 10 grills but not reduce the number.<\/p>\n
Another speaker pronounced that artificial turf is toxic and bad for the environment, prompting a quick reply from Herbst.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got turf in every single park in the city,\u201d Herbst said. \u201cHoliday Park, Carter Park, Mills Pond Park. Every park where we\u2019ve got fields has artificial turf. Guys, this is not the only place in the city where we have turf.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herbst then told the crowd that pickleball is played at the beach all over the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s called sandy pickle,\u201d Herbst said. \u201cThe idea that you can\u2019t play pickleball on the beach is categorically false. There\u2019s a lot of arguments against what\u2019s trying to be done. And there\u2019s a lot of valid points. But guys, we have to be factual here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com<\/a>. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pickleball by the sea? That\u2019s the plan in Fort Lauderdale, where commissioners said yes to a $2.5 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[73827,22500,124343,22501,249,251,250,62396,3129,124344,19722],"class_list":["post-295043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-artificial-turf","tag-bahia-mar","tag-bahia-mar-community-development-district","tag-basketball-courts","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-john-herbst","tag-pickleball-courts","tag-sand-on-the-beach","tag-steve-glassman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}