Critics still not loving idea of 42 pickleball courts slated for Fort Lauderdale’s Snyder Park. Too bad, city says

The deal got approved Nov. 1, just a week before three new commissioners were elected. Critics, still fuming months later, are not giving up their fight to block the project.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Pickleball players might love the idea of having 42 courts just a stone’s throw from their neighborhood.

But that’s not the crowd that showed up at a City Hall meeting on Tuesday, August 22, to blast the elected leaders of Fort Lauderdale — even though only two of the five on the dais were the ones who approved a $20 million project that will bring an 8-acre pickleball complex and restaurant to Snyder Park.

The deal got approved Nov. 1, just a week before three new commissioners were elected.

Critics, still fuming months later, are not giving up their fight to block the project, says Kevin Cochrane, a community activist who led a “Save Snyder Park” petition drive.

Cochrane and more than 100 volunteers spent months gathering more than 1,000 petition signatures in order to present the city commission with a proposed ordinance that would protect Snyder Park from commercial development.

The developer’s attorney, Ellyn Bogdanoff, says the pickleball complex is a recreational amenity that will be open to the public and owned by the taxpayers the day it opens. Players will pay a fee to use the courts between 6 a.m. and midnight, with discounts given to residents.

The courts will take up an 8-acre section of the park that now includes a seaweed composting site. The nearby lake, currently closed to swimmers, will be restored and reopened.

Under the deal, Fort Lauderdale will collect $100,000 a year or 1% of the gross revenue collected the previous year, whichever is greater. The developer, My Park Initiative, will operate the courts for 50 years with an option for two five-year extensions.

Bogdanoff says her clients are aiming to break ground in September. Initially, they were hoping to open by January 2024 in time for tournament season. But on Friday, Bogdanoff said it will likely take longer, but will be worth the wait.

“I think this is going to be an amazing project,” she told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Hundreds and hundreds of people are excited about this. They had 1,000 petition signatures (opposing the pickleball project). We have well over 1,000 people excited about this project.”

Chorus of critics

But not everyone is thrilled.

On Tuesday, more than 30 people signed up to share their thoughts on the pickleball project.

Nancy Long, president of the nearby River Oaks Civic Association, made it clear the pickleball crowd is not welcome at the mostly wooded Snyder Park.

“We don’t want the traffic,” she told commissioners. “We want to keep the park the way it is.”

Caitlin Lector, her 8-year-old son by her side, told commissioners that people from all over the city love the peaceful park and want it left alone.

“My son learned to ride his bike there,” said McAuliffe, who lives miles away in Melrose Park. “There is no other Snyder Park. You can find another pickleball place. But you cannot find another Snyder Park.”

Best spot?

Pickleball enthusiast Brad Tuckman, the man who came up with the idea with his business partner Richard Campillo, stepped up to defend the project.

“We chose Snyder Park because we thought it was the best location for it,” he told commissioners. “We’re one-third of a mile from the closest house. In the end, people won’t hear it. They won’t see it.”

Tuckman urged the commission to keep another fact in mind: More than 1,000 people may have signed the citizen petition, but more than 150,000 people live in Fort Lauderdale.

The land for Snyder Park was sold to Fort Lauderdale in 1966. The purchase price: $375,000. The seller was a corporation owned by the late Byron Snyder, who at the time said he wanted to see the land preserved as a park with no commercial uses.

After hearing from some speakers who were under the impression the land was given to the city, Commissioner Steve Glassman set the record straight.

“This land was not given to the city,” he said. “It was purchased. It was actually a rock quarry. We are bringing back a place that was used as a rock quarry and has been used as a seaweed composting site (for years). This is a rehashing of everything we have already heard. We have entered into a contract. This was not done in a fly-by-night fashion. This was done with hundreds and hundreds of people coming to a meeting and expressing themselves. Undoing that agreement at this moment would put us in severe (legal) jeopardy.”

Mayor Dean Trantalis and Glassman are the only ones still on the dais who approved the comprehensive agreement on Nov. 1.

Former Commissioner Heather Moraitis also approved the deal. Former Commissioner Ben Sorensen left the meeting early and did not cast a vote. And former Commissioner Robert McKinzie, now a county commissioner, voted no.

Commissioners Warren Sturman and John Herbst both told the crowd of critics they would not have voted for the deal. Herbst went even further, saying the city really should require a unanimous commission vote to convert parkland to any commercial use.

Vice Mayor Pamela Beasley-Pittman told the Sun Sentinel she also would have voted no on the deal if she’d had the chance.

Beasley-Pittman, Sturman and Herbst were elected on Nov. 8, a week after the vote.

But on Tuesday, not one commissioner was in favor of placing the citizen petition on the Sept. 19 agenda.

Afraid of a lawsuit

Under the city charter, citizens can petition the commission to consider an ordinance if they gather the required number of signatures. The signatures have been certified by the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office, as required by the charter.

Cochran and his attorney, John Rodstrom III, asked the city back in May to place the proposed ordinance on the 6 p.m. commission agenda so the mayor and commissioners could vote on it.

Instead, city officials placed the agenda item on the 1:30 p.m. commission conference agenda, where voting is prohibited.

Rodstrom urged city commissioners to vote on the ordinance at the Sept. 19 commission meeting, but failed to gain support.

Interim City Attorney D’Wayne Spence told the commission the proposed ordinance was flawed. He also warned that breaking the comprehensive agreement could lead to a lawsuit.

“We’re exploring legal remedies,” Rodstrom told the Sun Sentinel on Friday. “The charter is really clear that this should have been put on a regular meeting. No one on the commission really wants to stop this project. None of them said they’d like to see this placed on a regular agenda.”

This is not over, Cochrane promised.

“I don’t plan to stop,” he said. “I can get a court order to force them to allow us to present the petition at a regular meeting. We will follow the city charter. It is our governing document and must be followed.”

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan