Outdoor Courts Rules – DRAFT

———- Forwarded message ———

From: PMRSMail <DPRPMRSMail@honolulu.gov>
Subject: Outdoor Courts Rules
Date: Mar 1 2023, at 8:07 am
To: info@oahupickleballassociation.org

Aloha:

The following community outreach efforts to gauge public sentiment regarding existing conditions at all of City park outdoor courts, the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) is making available a draft of the revised rules for comment. 

Please see this draft copy of the rules and an online survey available at https://forms.gle/fnh1sNpaBNm8R58n7 from now until 4:30 p.m. (HST) on Monday, March 6, 2023.  The feedback received will be compiled and used as a reference to further develop our proposed rule changes governing outdoor court usage.

The draft rules were created to balance casual recreation use of the courts with permitted lessons. The hope is to have consistent, fair regulations on agreeable terms for all court users to encourage compliance and reduce the need for enforcement of the new rules. 

Based on the public outreach we previously conducted regarding outdoor courts, some of the bigger issues involved monopolization of certain facilities for private use and a need for rules to take into account multiple user groups.  DPR wants to keep our facilities as open to recreational use as possible, but we also want to give instructors the chance to provide higher quality lessons to our communities.

DPR urge members of the public to familiarize themselves with these draft rules prior to taking part in the survey. Some of the topics addressed in these draft rules include: 

  • Specific times, dates and locations for commercial instruction (i.e. tennis or pickleball lessons)
  • Allowing permitted classes at parks with a minimum amount of courts
  • Further implementing recreational court-use time limits for tennis and pickleball courts 

Upon completion of this final public survey, DPR will convene with the Small Business Regulatory Review Board before the last stage of approval through the DPR formal rule promulgation process. This includes posting the final draft publicly, and an open hearing for final public input. 

We appreciate the patience and understanding of the various park user groups while we work to make these rules as beneficial to the community as possible.

Please feel free to share/forward this information to members of your association and community. Your feedback is valuable. Mahalo!