Gilroy
– An anonymous family’s promise to finance 10 new tennis courts
at Las Animas Veterans Park could transform the public space into a
regional tournament site, but it may also translate into access
fees for residents used to playing for free.
Gilroy – An anonymous family’s promise to finance 10 new tennis courts at Las Animas Veterans Park could transform the public space into a regional tournament site, but it may also translate into access fees for residents used to playing for free.
For the last few years, the nonprofit Gilroy Tennis Club has advocated incorporating the five existing tennis courts at Las Animas into a larger facility – a move club leaders say is necessary to attract U.S. Tennis Association tournaments and establish a serious youth tennis culture in Gilroy.
The club’s financing plan for the larger facility includes hourly user fees, ranging from $4 per court during the daytime to $8 per court at night.
The anonymous offer to pay the construction cost of those courts – estimated at $500,000 – sweetens the deal for city leaders who have been wary of the plan due to public access issues and concerns about the effects of increased lighting and the park’s suitability for a large-scale facility.
At a Jan. 14 retreat, councilmen chose to momentarily set aside those concerns and gave staff the go ahead to review the tennis club’s proposal as part of a master plan for the 30.5-acre Las Animas Park. That process will start in the next two months and is expected to last up to a year.
City Councilman Craig Gartman, who disclosed the donation offer at the council retreat, said the Gilroy family that offered to finance the court had only one condition – that they have naming rights to the facility.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for the city,” Gartman said during an interview. “Here is someone willing to donate monies to try to improve an existing program that we have. I’m all in favor of that.”
The Gilroy Tennis Club is a nonprofit group that offers league and tournament play to more than 300 members. Mark Renella, a member of the club’s board of directors, said the group already hosts one annual USTA event – the Gilroy Garlic Tennis Tournament – but the matches are scattered among courts at Gavilan College, Gilroy High School, and Las Animas.
The tennis club could make do with 10 courts, he said, but 15 or 16 would enable the city to draw the big-money events that normally head to Monterey, Sunnyvale and other areas.
The larger facility would finance itself through tournament and user fees, pro-shop sales and tennis lessons, according to Renella. He pointed to Sunnyvale as one example of how a larger facility can benefit the entire community.
“They are making enough money off those courts to pay all the maintenance on all their parks,” he said. “It’s very lucrative.”
Beyond adding money to city coffers, Renella and other tennis club members believe their plan would create something the city has been missing for years.
“We’ll finally have a real juniors program in Gilroy,” he said. “If you don’t start when you’re 7 or 8, you don’t get to the Agassi level … We should have done this 5 or 10 years ago. I really want to see the youth of Gilroy get a tennis program.”
That desire will have to compete against other interests as the city starts a master plan process to chart the future of Las Animas Veterans Park.
Mayor Al Pinheiro said he is particularly concerned with the effect additional night-time lighting could have on people living around the park. Pinheiro and other councilmen have said the tennis facility may be more appropriate at the future sports complex, slated for construction just south of Luchessa Avenue.
In coming months, the city hopes to answer the first of many question surrounding the tennis club’s proposal – whether Las Animas Veterans Park can physically accommodate the larger number of courts and the increased usage expected to follow.
“This is the time that we need to hear these community needs,” said Bill Headley, who manages the city’s facilities and parks. “We certainly intend to entertain any viable proposal. It will have to stand the test of the review – both by other users of the park, neighbors, and the city at large.”
