Sports
Parks board OKs more court rentals
Evanston’s Parks and Recreation Board approved a plan Thursday that would allow the city’s parks department to offer two-hour basketball and beach volleyball court rentals.
The city now offers residents and community affiliate groups the opportunity to rent tennis and pickleball courts, but no process exists for renting outdoor basketball and beach volleyball courts, Tim Carter, the city’s lakefront and athletics division manager, told the board.
Carter said in the past year, city staff have received three rental requests for outdoor basketball and beach volleyball courts at Clark Street Beach — one from ETown Girls Feeder Basketball club, a youth girls basketball team that sought to rent outdoor courts for evening practices twice a week in the summer.
Since the city has no formal process and doesn’t allow court rentals, Carter asked for guidance about whether the board thought a similar program to the tennis and pickleball rental process, allowing the public or affiliated groups to rent the space at a fee, could work.
After a discussion, the board unanimously approved a plan to allow basketball courts at Baker, Bent, Foster, Harbert, James, Larimer, Lovelace and Mason parks, and three of the six beach volleyball courts at Clark Street Beach, to be rented for up to two hours.
The key issue some members of the board raised was informing the public about the process to ensure no one shows up to a court only to realize it’s closed off with a reservation.
Carter said the process would be the same as tennis and pickleball, with the reservation receipt serving as a permit. He said he believes there have been no issues with that rental process so far.
The rental rates for both basketball and beach volleyball courts would be $20 per hour for residents, $26 per hour for non-residents — a standard 30% increase — and $10 per hour for community affiliate groups, Carter said.
The fees are the same for tennis and pickleball.
If a court is not rented, it would remain open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
The board approved the plan as a one-year trial to see if any issues or significant complaints arise.