Pickleball courts envisioned for Tara

TARA -- Pickleball could be in the future of the 2,500 persons who call Tara home.

The fast-growing sport, especially popular with folks 50 and older, would be played on a converted tennis court.

Tara Community Development District supervisors asked Tuesday for a cost estimate to adapt one under-used tennis court for two pickleball courts.

Played with a paddle and a plastic ball, pickleball combines elements of tennis, badminton and pingpong. The ball has holes like a wiffleball and travels at about one-third the speed of a tennis ball.

Manatee County has adapted two of eight tennis courts at G.T. Bray Park for pickleball, which may be the fastest-growing sport for seniors, official said.

"It's like playing pingpong with bigger paddles," a county recreation staff member said.

The Esplanade community at Lakewood Ranch

has eight pickleball courts, Tara Supervisor Beth Bond said in urging the district to put together an introductory program.

"It's good exercise and a lot of fun," Supervisor Joe Mojica said.

In other business:

Supervisors voted 4-1 to construct a storage room in the community center. The district now stores chairs and tables in the community center electrical room, a practice forbidden by fire officials.

Chairman John Schmidt said his preference is to expand the community center but it won't happen because he opposes anything that would raise district taxes.

Bond voted against converting community center space into storage based on aesthetic and usage reasons.

The next landscape workshop will be at 9 a.m. Feb. 7 at 7340 Tara Preserve Lane. Supervisors will discuss findings from a series of workshop meetings this month when they toured district-owned property. Tara residents have petitioned supervisors to make landscaping improvements.

The next regular Tara supervisors meeting is set for 10 a.m. Feb. 24 at the community center. All supervisor meetings and workshops are open to the public.

James A. Jones Jr., East Manatee reporter, can be contacted at 941-745-7053 or on Twitter @jajones1.

This story was originally published January 28, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Pickleball courts envisioned for Tara ."