Four Bayshore Park pickleball courts would cost $808,000; soccer pitches up to $827,000

Building four lighted pickleball courts at Bayshore Park in Mid-Beach would cost about $808,000, and turning Crespi Park in North Beach into a small-sided soccer pitch could cost as much as $827,000, according to city memos for the Nov. 18 City Commission meeting. Neither project has money set aside.

Bayshore Park pickleball. The city’s parks department splits the courts into two phases: about $475,000 to design and build four courts, then about $333,000 for Musco sports lighting, plus about $8,000 a year to run them, City Manager Eric Carpenter’s memo says. Two spots near the tennis center are being studied, north of the tennis courts or west of the Scott Rakow Youth Center parking lot, both away from the homes around the park, according to the memo, which estimates about 19 months to finish. In February, the public safety committee voted to study the courts and the finance committee recommended a new capital project to build them, with lighting left for later budgets.

The manager’s memo urges caution. It notes the commission’s direction to budget at the rolled-back tax rate, which it says could mean cuts of up to $25 million, and lists unfunded park needs such as new playgrounds at Lummus Park (about $1.32 million) and Normandy Isle Park ($880,000). The city has 12 dedicated and 19 shared pickleball courts, the memo says, and its three newest, at Flamingo Park, cost about $446,000 and opened in September.

Soccer pocket parks. Asked in July to find at least two sites, staff picked Crespi Park and the sandy “spoil” area of Lummus Park between 11th and 12th streets, according to a second memo. Turfing Crespi Park’s grass field, with lighting, netting and seating, would cost $616,000 to $827,000, or $503,000 to $790,000 in asphalt. The Lummus Park site would cost $127,000 to $285,000 in turf or $104,000 to $266,000 in asphalt, but it would need state permits, and sea turtle rules rule out lights there, the memo says.

More pickleball on the agenda. A resolution sponsored by Commissioner Joseph Magazine would direct staff to plan a pilot of courts in underused green spaces, including South of Fifth, and report back in 60 days. Commissioners Laura Dominguez and Magazine want a committee to study a community pickleball event at Flamingo Park, or on Ocean Drive, using the 10 roll-up courts the city owns. Commissioner Monica Matteo-Salinas proposes naming the Miami Beach Golf Club’s pickleball courts for former Mayor Dan Gelber.

The commission meets at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 18 at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive.