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Hoops court plan riles N Redington residents
By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA NORTH REDINGTON BEACH -- St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island and Madeira Beach have basketball facilities, but residents here say a planned full court for hoopsters will lower their property values and destroy their "quality of life." More than 100 people have signed a petition opposing the basketball court at Radcliffe Park. Many of them crowded commission chambers last week to voice their protest and ask for tennis courts instead. "I know the board didn't want to do anything purposefully to jeopardize the peacefulness of our community," said Mark Peltz, who organized the petition and asked the commission for a "stay of execution. I've spent a lot of money renovating my house and I'm furious." Peltz said the court would "attract groups of unsupervised teenagers" from throughout Tampa Bay who would disturb their neighborhood with their "boom boxes, curses and vandalism." He cited police calls at Hurley Park, where teenagers used one of two full-sized basketball courts after St. Pete Beach's 10 p.m. curfew. Some Pass-a-Grille residents lobbied the commission to have the Hurley hoops removed in 1997. A rally by residents, some of whom suggested racism was at the root of the complaint, prompted commissioners to back off. A basketball court at the Treasure Island recreation center on Paradise Island has created no problems, according to City Manager Chuck Coward. But North Redington Beach residents living near the Bath Club South park are adamant that "kids from all over' would play there and the competition could lead to "altercations, even violence.' A resident of the three-story Shoals condominium, where apartment balconies overlook Radcliffe Park, offered to take commissioners on a van tour of basketball courts in the Tampa Bay area. "It's beyond me that you could possibly have decided to do this," he said. A few residents did speak in support of the basketball court. "Radcliffe Park would be our town's signature park, a community park to serve the entire community, both the young and the young at heart,' said Robert Dyer. "A safe place to teach a child to ride a bike or to roller-skate. A place for the teens to play basketball or tennis. A place for adults to walk or to play with their children. And finally a town meeting place for special events." Mayor Harold Radcliffe and other commissioners were caught off guard by the protest and repeatedly asked the residents "Where were you?' when planning for the basketball courts began more than a year ago. Radcliffe said "very few" residents responded to a town-wide survey in spring 2001, and those that did listed a full basketball court as one of the items they would like in the town park. The town also is planning to build a pavilion and a tot playground. "It's been 18 months and we've done everything we could to get input from people," Radcliffe said, adding that an engineer hired to design the $100,000 park improvement plan is 60 percent complete. "We have acted in good faith. There is a risk in anything and I assume there will be a risk in this as well.' Commissioner David Yost said he had not been aware until recently of the groundswell against the basketball court. "We have plenty of time to put this on a referendum this March. It's the right thing to do," he said to loud applause. "If we go to referendum on this we might as well not be here," said Commissioner Ray Jay Jagielski. "If you want something to happen, please come to our meetings and not at the last minute." Commissioner Jeff Busch said although he lives on the same street as the park, he has "no concern" for his property values -- among the highest in the county -- if the basketball court is installed. "This is a community that is not just the Shoals, not just the Tides. If we have problems, we will solve the problems," he said. "We even had people who didn't want a playground across the street from their house because 6-year-olds would be too rowdy. This is a perceived fear that does not exist." Radcliffe has placed the issue on the commission's next meeting, 7 p.m. Dec. 12 at Town Hall.
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