Following the history listed below, WPAC received a proposal for the addition of pickleball courts and improvements to the horseshoe pits and volleyball court. WPAC invited community feedback and this information is summarized below. At our January 8th, 2024 meeting we drafted and approved a formal response to the Park District which is pasted below.
Please contact wellesparkac@gmail.com with any questions.
History
- 2019 – Following interest from neighbors, Welles Park Advisory Council (WPAC) sends a letter to Chicago Park District (CPD) requesting a cost estimate for the addition of pickleball courts.
- 2022- Ald. Martin lists pickleball courts as an option in the 47th Ward participatory budgeting process and it is successfully selected by respondents.
- 2022 & 2023 – Welles Park Horseshoe Club and local pickleball players advocate WPAC, CPD and 47th Ward for consensus design that supports both activities.
- April 2023 – WPAC sends letter requesting six elements (posted on WPAC website):
- Do not remove any horseshoe pits.
- Repaint tennis courts with proper pickleball lines
- Install 2-3 courts on concrete pad immediately north of tennis courts.
- Consider adding shuffleboard lines back to 2nd, smaller concrete pad.
- Rehab volleyball court.
- Add hammock grove poles to area immediately north of horseshoe pits.
- Nov. 2023 – CPD provides design shown below. NOTE; Only items 1, 3, & 5 are addressed in these plans.
- Nov/Dec. 2023 – WPAC shares design through website, Alderman’s newsletter, field house posting, and Block Club Chicago article. WPAC receives 23 email responses to current design (summary below).
- Response Summary (23 Emails Received)
- General Support of the proposal – 7
- Issue with proposal (14)
- Dog park (1)
- Pickleball court design (1)
- Loss of Horseshoe pits (11)
- Behavior of horseshoe pit users (1)
- Other unrelated issue (3)
- Posting question (1)
- Tai Chi users (1)
- Levy Center (1)
Dear Maria, Greg, Michelle, and the Chicago Park District Planning Department,
On behalf of the Welles Park Advisory Council (WPAC), I am writing to provide our feedback on the plan to renovate the horseshoe pits at Welles Park and add pickleball courts. Upon receiving a proposal design on November 28th, we shared this through our website, posts in the Ward newsletter, the WPAC newsletter, and posted designs in the Welles’ fieldhouse. We requested feedback via email from Nov. 28th through Dec. 31st and formally discussed the responses to a full house at our January 8th, 2024 meeting. While a summary of the feedback can be found at www.wellespark.org, WPAC would ask that the design be improved in the following ways:
- Remove the cornhole / bags courts from the plan. There was a significant community response to the removal of any of the historical horseshoe pits and there is no constituency requesting bags. Instead, we can provide bags and boards through WPAC funds that Park District programs can utilize or make them available to park users allowing for flexible and appropriate use. We do not approve the addition of bags courts.
- We request clarification regarding “rehab” of the horseshoe pits. The active horseshoe club has very minimal need for improvements with only replacing a few boards, repainting the faded stripes, and considering some landscaping improvements that could create a sound buffer between the pits and Montrose Avenue. We want to make sure that the current improvements made by the horseshoe club over the years including clay, scoreboards, and water service will not be impacted by these improvements. We request that we or a WPAC representative work with the design team to clarify the horseshoe renovation plans.
3.The current area for three (3) proposed pickleball courts will be a welcome addition. However, the area between courts and from the baseline to the fencing is of some concern. WPAC requests 8-10′ behind the baseline, 8′ between courts and 6′ to the side fencing. The ideal dimensions would be 64′ X 88′. We are also concerned about any drain placement, as this has been an issue at other Chicago Park District pickleball courts. Additionally, we request that the trees to the north of the court be trimmed. Current drainage from the tennis courts flows to this area so an infiltration area between tennis and pickleball may be necessary.
4. WPAC is excited to have the volleyball court rehabbed. Can CPD install a semi-permanent net, similar to what is used at Wrightwood Park, to maximize the use of the area? We would request that this net is installed seasonally as appropriate, perhaps May 1st to Oct. 31st.
5. We request that lights be added to illuminate the new pickleball courts, and, with consideration to operating costs, energy consumption and climate change, that all of the lights for pickleball, tennis, and horseshoe be retrofitted with user-activated timers of at least 60 minutes. These areas are unnecessarily illuminated all winter from dusk until 11 pm.
We have attached a graphic to help communicate these items to the space and would be glad to meet on-site to show you these improvements first-hand. Our final request is to pass on this request to CPD Planning Staff and that they let the WPAC know when this work will take place so that we can help CPD communicate this improvement and the timing to the park users.
Thank you for incorporating this feedback into the proposal, and we look forward to these improvements coming to Welles Park this year.
Sincerely,
Aaron Durnbaugh, President
On behalf of the Welles Park Advisory Council (discussed and approved 1/8/2024)
Resources:
Initial WPAC meeting notes when WPAC voted to request pickleball courts (May 13, 2019)
WPAC letter regarding project (April 16, 2023)
WPAC call for proposal feedback (November 17, 2023)
History of Welles Park Horseshoe Pits (compiled by WP Horseshoe Club) – Page 6 provides details on minor repairs.
Welles Park Advisory Council 