A proliferation of pickleball in Parksville has players asking the city for paint.
Jim Cunningham and Tom Staite of the Oceanside Pickleball Club have asked the city to paint more pickleball lines on the tennis courts at Community Park. If approved, pickleballers will have eight courts at that location instead of the current two.
The club started in the summer of 2013 with 20 people. Less than two years later, the club has 130 members.
"Because our club is growing so fast, we are looking for more courts to play on," club president Cunningham told city council at its regular meeting Monday night.
Councillors and staff seemed to indicate they had no problem with the request and there was a suggestion it could fall into the existing budget, but council asked staff to check into the issue before approving the line painting, possibly at a special council meeting on Monday.
According to wikipedia, pickleball is a sport in which two, three, or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, similar to a wiffle ball, over a net. Pickleball was invented in the mid 1960s as a children's backyard pastime but quickly became popular among adults as a fun game for players of all levels.
In other city council news:
• Parksville Legion member Donald Livingstone appeared before council to request a permissive taxation exemption for Branch 49.
Livingstone outlined what the Legion does to serve the community and also provided council with detailed financial information. The Legion has been exempt from paying property taxes for years now, "and I don't see that changing any time soon," said Coun. Al Greir. The city is currently accepting applications from groups that want to pay less than 100 per cent of their property taxes. Staff said council will have a list in front of them and some decisions to make in late summer.