City of Venice plans for pickleball courts at Hecksher Park

Good Afternoon Mrs. Frank –

As requested, I am attaching the construction plans for the Hecksher Park Pickleball Courts project. Additionally, Public Works provided a brief background below on the piece of play equipment that was previously removed from this area. Please let me know if you have any follow up questions.

Thank You, James

Information from Public Works:

The playground structure at Hecksher was removed in early Nov of 2023.  Sarasota County staff reached out in Oct. of 2023 regarding the removal of the playground due to the failing nature of the piece of equipment.  It was noted that it was going to need extensive repairs and/or total replacement.  The sand would also need to be removed and mulch and a new border would need to be installed.  The cost associated with these items would have been substantial in nature for a structure that was going to have to moved and relocated. With that, the county offered to remove the playground structure as it had reached its full use potential, and it was at end-of-life cycle.  We did discuss the pull-up bars at that location and those were to remain in place and would be relocated to another area/park when the construction started on the proposed pickleball courts.  The timing of the discussion and removal of the structure did not take place because of the pickleball court project but instead was based on the safety of those using the park.

I did speak with Engineering prior to the removal, and I was informed that the only reference to the playground during all the meetings and public workshops was that if the structure was deemed safe and usable, it would be relocated.  After inspection, that was not the case and therefore that structure was removed. With that, there is still the primary playground area just to the north that remains in place at Hecksher Park within the fenced area and was not planned to be impacted by the pickleball project.