Pickleballers need place to play, but Innisfil hesitant to fork over the green

Nearly 120 Innisfil residents have signed a petition calling for more pickleball courts to be built in the municipality.

The signatures were presented to council at its Dec. 11 meeting.

“We need pickleball courts here in Innisfil,” said Raz Giancola, who spoke to council on behalf of the petitioners. “The fact is, we don’t have any.”

Pickleball is considered to be the fastest-growing sport in Canada, enjoyed by young and old alike. However, its inclusionary, low-impact nature particularly appeals to seniors, allowing them to stay active and social as they enter their twilight years.

Giancola is one of those seniors who finds himself playing almost every day he can.

“Our concern, besides the fact that we do not have any dedicated pickleball courts here anywhere in Alcona, is that there are no plans to build any anytime soon,” he said.

The petitioners called on council to adjust its construction plans for Innisfil Beach Park and move up its resurfacing of the tennis courts from the 2029-2030 timeframe to 2025. At that time, two of the four tennis courts at the park could be converted into six pickleball courts, allowing more tennis players and pickleballers to co-exist.

“I know that tennis players don’t want any of their courts taken away, but they already were taken away when the pickleball lines were painted on them," Giancola said.

Currently, nearly all the tennis courts have markings on them for both sports, including the reconstructed set at Jans Boulevard. But that gets confusing for all players, council was told, with the all-encompassing setup actually hindering pickleball players, as the courts and nets are not regulation size.

It’s why Giancola finds himself playing primarily in Barrie, where he says courts are filled daily. Pickleball is so popular in the area’s most populous city that eight courts were added in the past year, tripling the number of places to play available.

But Innisfil is not Barrie, council was reminded by a resident during the open forum section of council.

Local tennis pro Diyan Nevins-Selvadurai urged council not to keep all four tennis courts at Innisfil Beach Park as is. He said he was “flummoxed” that such an idea was even being floated.

“I was quite surprised when I found out who was making the presentation. I thought this is some out-of-town person who is, in my opinion, quite arrogant,” he said. “Compared to Barrie — which is a hotbed for pickleball — there really aren’t that many people playing pickleball in the Town of Innisfil.”

Nevins-Selvaduari's criticism did not sit well with Giancola, who voiced his displeasure to InnisfilToday following the meeting.

"He was allowed to criticize (with) some misguided information he had received from an irate tennis player before I stated what my proposal was," Giancola wrote in an email. "He was allowed to talk about me in such a condescending manner, calling me arrogant on more than one occasion, without being chastised or refrained." 

Instead of changing the tennis courts at Innisfil Beach Park, Nevins-Selvadurai said the town could create new purpose-built pickleball courts in a vacant space adjacent to the current courts. Otherwise, converting the courts at Jans Boulevard to pickleball-only would be a suitable alternative.

Deputy Mayor Kenneth Folwer put that idea forward to Giancola following his presentation. Giancola was taken aback, having not completely considered the idea, calling it “fantastic.”

He found support from Coun. Alex Waters as well, who noted pickleball had been an issue in the community as long as he’s been on council. He sympathized with the petitioners who stated the number of youth initiatives planned for Innisfil Beach Park in the earlier phase before the tennis courts are to be repaired.

“It would be nice to have something these people could use as opposed to their children,” Waters said.

The petition was received by council without any direction to staff. That means no immediate action will be taken.

While the time to make such decisions would be during the budget process currently underway, Mayor Lynn Dollin reminded councillors of the uphill battle they’re already facing with the budget in front of them.

“We can build whatever we want,” she said. “If people want gold streets, we can build anything, as long as people are willing to pay for it.”

Giancola did not welcome Dollin's comments either and was largely disappointed by the entire process.

"When I received applause from the two-dozen supporters, they were told by the mayor that this was not acceptable in the chamber," he wrote. "Why was an employee of the town — or anyone for that matter — allowed to attack my character without being refrained by the mayor?"