Orange Tennis Club

[Jason W Zoladz]

Good Evening County Commissioners,

My name is Jason Zoladz and I am the founding director of the local nonprofit Orange Tennis Club.  For the past ten years, my colleagues and I have been providing high quality tennis instruction to community members of all ages and skill levels at a low cost and we have been operating on the three tennis courts in Fairview Park.  As you know, those three tennis courts are the only tennis courts in Orange County outside of the Town of Chapel Hill.  We love Fairview Park and the community surrounding it, but as far as tennis courts go, they have gotten a great deal of use over the years and are in disrepair with no plans to repair or maintain them.  Additionally, our nonprofit club has grown too large to continue to operate on three courts as interest in both tennis and Pickleball has been growing rapidly not only in our community but nationwide.

 

Myself and an investor are pursuing the purchase of 19 acres in Orange County to build a public tennis and Pickleball club, including indoor courts.  We want this racquet facility to be an asset to the public and our community in Hillsborough and Orange County.  Our hope is that we have the support of the County Commissioners and we would be grateful to receive any information or guidance you might have as we go through this process to develop what we believe will be a great addition to our community.

 

Thank you for your time,

Jason Zoladz

Orange Tennis Club - Director

[Bonnie Hammersley]

Dear Mr.  Zoladz,

Thank you for the email.  I have copied the Orange County Department of Environmental Agriculture Parks and Recreation (DEAPR) Director for a response to your questions.  If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Thank you.

Bonnie B. Hammersley

Orange County Manager

Whitted Building

300 W Tryon Street

P.O. Box 8181

Hillsborough, NC 27278

(O) 919-245-2306

(M) 608-216-4584

On Mar 24, 2021, at 7:27 PM, Jason W Zoladz <ja...@orangetennisclub.com> wrote:



[David Stancil]

Mr. Zoladz:

 

Thanks for the email and the information about your planned facility.

 

You are correct that the only tennis courts Orange County owns and operates are the three at Fairview Park. There is a plan for $30,000 in resurfacing and other improvements to these courts. That work was slated for last fall, but the Covid pandemic / other funding concerns kept that project from occurring. We are hopeful of proceeding with it in the near future.

 

As I am sure you know, there are also eight tennis courts at Orange High School that have been historically available for public usage. Those are managed by the Orange County Schools. If you have not already, you may wish to contact the schools about reservation of those courts.

 

We do have new tennis courts planned in future park capital improvement projects at Soccer.com Center and perhaps additional courts at Fairview, but these are scheduled for construction between 2025 and 2030 at this time.

 

Re pickleball, I have been receiving inquiries recently from several local pickleball players about additional courts and possibilities, and we actually have a virtual meeting scheduled for next Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 to discuss pickleball. Given your plans and interest in pickleball as well, I would like to invite you to be part of that meeting. You certainly have some relevant information about possible future facilities. Please let me know if you would like to attend.

 

I hope this is helpful, please let me know if I can provide any further information.

[Bonnie Hammersley]

Yes, please send to BOCC.  Thank you.

Bonnie B. Hammersley

Orange County Manager

Whitted Building

300 W Tryon Street

P.O. Box 8181

Hillsborough, NC 27278

(O) 919-245-2306

(M) 608-216-4584

On Mar 25, 2021, at 2:16 PM, David Stancil <dsta...@orangecountync.gov> wrote:



[Jason - Orange Tennis Club]

We are really interested in building a facility for both tennis and pickleball here in Hillsborough.  The courts at Fairview are very limiting and we haven’t had much luck in the past trying to work something out with the schools. We would certainly be interested in that but it has not worked in the past.

Can anyone offer some help or guidance in what steps we would need to take to make this a reality.  We are eyeing up 19 acres of property north of town off of Coleman Loop. I can provide more details on the property if needed.

We have a business plan, investors and the potential property - just not sure exactly where to start to make sure the property would work for a tennis facility.

Again - any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. 

I will try to attend the meeting next week at 2:00.  What do I need to do to get a link?

Is it possible that my investor and I could set up a meeting to get a clear idea on what we need to do to make this all a reality?

Jason Zoladz

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 25, 2021, at 2:23 PM, Bonnie Hammersley <bhamm...@orangecountync.gov> wrote:

 Yes, please send to BOCC.  Thank you.

[David Stancil]

I will send you an email with the meeting invite for Wednesday. I believe you are talking with the Planning Department about necessary zoning approvals, development applications or permits, so that is a good first start. If you would like to set up a meeting to discuss I would be glad to participate, to the degree we can help.