The public is invited to attend a meeting for reviewing the parking plan of the Marguerite Aquatics and Tennis Center on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 7:00 p.m. in the Tennis Center, 23840 Marguerite Parkway.
In June the City Council approved the Master Plan for the Center with the condition that a meeting with community residents be held for their input on a new plan for parking. A new plan has been developed, and the public is encouraged to review and share their opinions at the meeting.
Also to be discussed will be a concept plan developed for the tennis clubhouse.
For more information on the meeting, call (949) 470-3061 or send an email to recreation@cityofmissionviejo.org.
I was at that meeting and it was very informative and I am pleased to see the rear parking modifications to accommodate the local residents. Both they and I know that people will park where it is most convenient for the person parking the car and perhaps not where the designer wanted you to park. I was disappointed that most of the men who play evenings and week ends did not attend this meeting also as they were either playing at Felipe or had other obligations.
During previous meetings looking for public comments those men where in attendance and voiced the opposition like I did to eliminating the front “Tennis Only” parking area. One of the reasons previously given for removing it (front parking) was that the club house needed to be relocated and we would be losing part of it anyway. But according to what was shown during the meeting on 8/26/2009 the new club house will sit right where the existing one is now. At this meeting different reasons were given for removing the parking area but none seemed to really hold water to me.
When I brought up my objections to removing the front parking the women who were in attendance almost unanimously moaned that we didn’t need that front parking and the other men who are usually with me on this item were not in attendance. Later on when we were told the plans called for fences only a couple of feet high between the courts both I and the day time playing women voiced our objections. We knew that what sounded like a good idea to the designer was actually a poor choice and would cause many interruptions on the adjoining courts. How do we know this you might ask, because we play tennis.
I play at Marguerite usually both Saturday and Sunday as well as in the Wednesday night doubles league and men’s singles usually on Thursdays nights and did not recognize most of the women at our meeting. Since these women whom I did not recognize saw no need to keep the existing parking I can only conclude that they seldom play on the week ends. If they did perhaps they would have had the same first hand knowledge concerning the parking that they did concerning the low fences and may have also objected to removing the front parking.
For those of us who do play on week ends it is a constant battle with the swimmers because as soon as the front parking fills they have already taken all the spaces in the back including those supposed to be reserved for tennis parking!! In fact on 2 occasions this summer the swimmers had the over flow parking blocked for “swim school only” and had taken all of the rear tennis parking to boot. We ended up jamming our front parking area and then when someone wanted to leave we got the people who were playing to come off the courts and move their cars. If you eliminate the front parking how are you going to police the rear to make sure tennis people can park? My understanding is that at present there are only 11 spots supposedly reserved for tennis in the rear. Now add the 14 in the front and you have a total of 25 spots. We will have 8 courts, and since most people play doubles that would require 32 parking spots. There are presently not even enough for us with the 7 existing courts even if you include the front parking and you want to eliminate that why??
It is a totally mystery to me why you would want to spend $350,000 to $450,000 to destroy a perfectly good parking area and shade structure when you could put that money to much better use by replacing the lighting at Felipe Tennis center. This is especially curious because I learned at some of the other public meetings that you have to pay much more for the electricity at Felipe because it is a different supplier than at Marguerite.
Perhaps it is because you are government and the improvements are supposed to be for Marguerite that you are intent on spending the already allocated money there. But I was surprised that nobody thought diverting money for the destruction of parking and using it for the construction of lighting at Felipe was a good idea.
Regards,
Kime Goodrum
I am one of the residents who supported the funding of the improvements to the tennis center at Marguerite. During the public debates for that effort, there were plenty of concerns regarding the monies that were being splurged.
All that I sought was the addition of the one additional court, resurfacing of the courts, and some long overdue upgrades like lighting and rest rooms.
The additions that are extraneous to this, and are being considered are revamped and increased parking lots, and basketball courts. Thankfully, the basketball courts, for which no public support was seen during the public debates, are ruled out.
What is puzzling is the need to convert the adequate parking up front to something else. Clearly this is not a need, since it solve no existing problem of the tennis center.
Why remove a perfectly serviceable parking lot and replace it with something, that is likely, better serving the needs of adjoining swimming facilities patrons?
People wanted to reduce costs — well, here is a good way of doing that without affecting the needs of the tennis centers.
The tennis center at Marguerite with eight courts will have a need for at most four more parking spaces. Why relocate the existing parking lot, at what will be a high cost, for that?
If that money *has* to be spent, then Kime’s proposal has merit: why not use it to improve a tennis facility — perhaps better, efficient, and cheaper lights at Felipe?
There is absolutely no need to renovate the front parking lot of the current tennis center. I believe the planned “picnic” area will be under utilized and a total waste of money, while keeping the area as it is for parking will ease the constant congestion of our parking needs for both the tennis and the swimming center.