12.13.23 BOA Agenda Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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34 1 John Pelphrey: I'm a Director of Operations for a small business in the area. But my involvement with the Orange Tennis 2 Club started in 2014. 1 have been a member of the staff of the Orange Tennis Club since 2014. And I have coached and 3 taught tennis to hundreds of people in Orange County from the ages of 5 years old all the way up to people in their 80s. 1 4 enjoy and love the sport of tennis. And I'm here today to speak on behalf of the Orange Tennis Club. I'm their chosen 5 spokesperson. The Orange Tennis Club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We have been seeking space for our 6 programming to expand our programming over the last decade even before I joined. The club itself was actually formed in 7 2009. We've been operating out of the three courts at Fairview Park. And we are currently over capacity. We have a limit 8 of 12 people per clinic. We run clinics 6 days a week now on those courts. And we are constantly overbooked on those 9 clinics. So we're having to turn people away. We would really love the opportunity to have a permanent home and 10 permanent facility that we can grow and grow into as time goes by. The demand for tennis and pickleball, as you know, 11 has skyrocketed since the pandemic, and it hasn't slowed down. This is not some sort of like peak thing that happened 12 when people were stuck in their homes. We continue to see growth to the extent that we now have over 200 paid 13 memberships with the Orange Tennis Club right now, and again,we're running that on three tennis courts. The role in this 14 project here is that we will be the main user of the indoor recreational facility and the outdoor tennis courts there at the 15 Lawrence Road Project. This facility will contain both hard courts and CaliClay tennis courts. And I want to highlight this 16 for just a minute because we were talking about water use. There's a new technology for clay courts,this CaliClay. And it 17 uses significantly less water between 60 to 90 percent less water depending on the location that it is put in. And we chose 18 it for its efficiency, it's water efficiency, it's lower maintenance cost and the reduced environmental impact. We do not 19 intend to utilize the well water to water these clay courts. We will use the retention pond that you've seen in the drawings to 20 water this. The beauty of the CaliClay for us also is it's a lower maintenance cost. It's actually a little cheaper to install. 21 And it was developed for and climates. It was developed in California for and climates. And we're going to bring that here. 22 The Raleigh Racquet Club in Raleigh has CaliClay tennis courts and the members there love them. So what does this 23 project mean for Orange Tennis Club? Overall,these facilities will allow us to serve more people, more families in Orange 24 County. This will be a privately funded but open to the public on a membership basis or a pay-per-use model. We 25 currently operate out of those courts at Fairview Park and as you may or may not know, those are the only three public 26 tennis courts north of Interstate 40 in Orange County. Currently, also, Hillsborough residents and northern Orange County 27 residents drive to Durham and Chapel Hill to complete league play and tournaments. The new facility will bring some of 28 those residents in to be able to play here locally as opposed to us having to leave to always go out of town to play. I want 29 to briefly discuss this project and its consistency with the goals of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan. Our tennis and 30 pickleball facilities will work towards the comprehensive plan's goals or providing adequate parks and recreational facilities 31 for all citizens within the county regardless of age, gender, race and economic background. Pickleball and tennis courts 32 are recreational facilities that appeal particularly to older residents. However, OTC also serves children through our 33 coaching clinics,therefore,this project will provide recreational opportunities for people of all ages. Additionally, OTC aims 34 to provide our facilities as cheaply as possible to allow residents of all economic backgrounds to participate in our sport. 35 We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our charge is to grow the game of tennis, and we do that through being the most 36 affordable tennis option in the area and that's been documented over and over again. And on top of that,we offer 37 scholarships. We have a high school internship program. We build leaders and people that know how to teach as part of 38 that. Finally,just like with the HYA baseball fields, our facilities will allow our participants to build community and participate 39 in physical recreation which supports a healthy lifestyle. For these reasons and more,this project is consistent with the 40 guidance of the Comprehensive Plan and will provide a great public benefit to Orange County. Thank you so much for your 41 time. I'll hand it off to HYA unless you have some questions for me. 42 43 Leon Meyers: Questions for Mr. Pelphrey? 44 45 Beth Bronson: Do you have an annual operating budget available? 46 47 John Pelphrey: I do not have an annual operating budget for the current 501(c)(3)on me at this point. 48 49 Beth Bronson: I don't mean to be inappropriate with the questioning. I guess I'm just wondering, so the Orange Tennis 50 Club is going to be taking ownership after these courts are built or Orange Tennis Club is going to be building these courts? 51 52 John Pelphrey:We will be leasing the land from the developer, and then we will either lease, borrow, or raise funds, a 53 combination of all three of those things in order to build the facility. The facility will be built in phases. We will not be 54 constructing all of it all at once. 55