PARKS AND REC. BOARD HEARS ABOUT PICKLEBALL / BASKETBALL

  

A full house greeted the Brenham Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for their Workshop Session this Wednesday afternoon.  The board decided to move from the conference room to the regular City Council Chambers to give everyone more room.  The question on everyone’s minds is if the city should build more Pickleball courts at Jackson Street Park at the expense of doing away with the Basketball court.  Four people that talked during the open comments portion of the meeting were pro-Pickleball, while three people that spoke were pro-Basketball.  Everyone had an opinion. The Brenham Pickleball Association presented their plan to build a total of 22 courts at Jackson Street Park in four stages, doing away with the current Basketball court in the process.  The pro-basketball crowd felt this would be unfair for the dwindling number of playable courts in Brenham.  Chairman of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Bill Betts, said the people are there at the correct time because the city is about to make a decision about the renovation of Jackson Street Park.  He said, “Let’s get this right.” The city currently, thru BCDC, has budgeted $715,000 to Jackson Street Park for the upgrade of restrooms, electrical, and newer play areas.  The board took no action on the item as this was only a workshop session.

In other action, the board did vote to approve the 2024 Fee Schedule.  They amended the non-resident Blue Bell Aquatic Center pricing from $10 per day to $8 per day.  The also voted to amend the Sectional Teams Annual Fee.  The fees are broken down to Resident / Non-Resident admission.  Most fees for the city will see a slight increase, including the Carousel at Fireman’s Park.  It is going from $1/rider per day to $1/ rider each time.