Tiburon Peninsula Club
Meeting Minutes
February 28, 2006
In Attendance: Sophie Carrel, Claudia Bressie, Steve Jackson Director of Tennis, Barbara Winter, Diane Bradford & Kenny Kahn, Jordan Warren & Susan Jack Members of the Board of Governors
Guest: Jeanne Austrian
Excused: Chris Horne General Manager, Kathleen Brady, Cris Schonefeld, Roberta Masson & Laura Fennema
The meeting was called to order by Committee Chairperson Sophie Carrel.
Meeting Minutes dated January 31, 2006 were approved.
Announcements/ Discussion:
Clarification of role of the Ladies League Representatives: All captains of Ladies Leagues (including, but not limited to, Marin League, Sonoma Napa Marin League and USTA) will report to the current Ladies League Representatives. All concerns regarding teams, home match days and scheduling will funnel through the Ladies League Representatives. Communication with the Director of Tennis and the Chairperson of the Tennis Committee shall be maintained through the Ladies League Representatives.
In an effort to facilitate proper management of the Ladies Leagues, the representatives of the Ladies League will ask Chris to have links to Napa Sonoma, mixed and USTA for men and women on the TPC tennis site.
Sophie P. Carrel read a letter from the Chief Umpire, Sande French, from the last Tiburon Challenger. It said that she was saddened that we would not be able to host the Challenger this year.
Steve Jackson and Brandon Coupe organized a Pro-AM during the SAP open for 8 lady members. It was a great success! The ProAm was played at Santa Clara University during the tournament. The format was a Mixed Round Robin tournament where-by every lady had the opportunity to play with each professional. Points were won based on the number of games played. She with the most points won. Kathleen Brady won the event.
The Tennis Court Contract was passed out to the Committee. The new court layout is in a different location than was previously agreed upon without explanation from the planning committee. There was no communication of this change to either the TC of Steve Jackson. The apparent cost of this modification was an additional $10K in order to bring in a soil engineer. Susan Jack will contact Chris Horne regarding concerns of the change raised by the Tennis Committee about this new change and the liability if any problems should arise.
Sophie handed out copies of the TPC joint meeting of renovation and Finance Committee from February 13th for informational purposes only.
Ball Machine Proposal Approved by BOG. $50,000.00 set aside in order to complete it towards the end of the project.
Tennis Director’s Report:
Steve suggested the USTA men’s teams to start matches at 9am on Weekends in order to minimize court crunch. Weekend match schedules should be considered in order to maximize member court usage. Committee had no disagreement to the USTA Men’s teams starting their matches at 9am.
Steve also asked what his latitude is on making decisions exclusive of the Board and TC. For example, having 10 kids come for a Saturday tournament. Due to the BOG’s intent on revising the Bylaws of the TPC, no response could be given at this time.
March 18th – Junior Exhibition tournament with a Scaramento Club. Need 5 upper courts from 12 noon to 3pm. Approved by committee. Will be posted on Calendar of events.
Junior Spring League matches will be on back upper courts in afternoon after daylight savings. This program addresses kids not in tournaments. This is to grow their individual interests.
Need to pick weekend dates for TPC CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS. Suggestions are: June 17 – 18, 2006 DOUBLES & MIXED, Sept. 23-24, 2006 SINGLES. Need Confirmation!
Summer Clinics for Adults. This will be the 1st time for adult clinics and cardio tennis. The clinics will be MIXED. Steve will promote a multi level, mixed cardio adult clinic. A great way for members to get energized, exercise and socialize.
Manager’s Report – Chris excused. The following minutes are responses to Susan Jack’s query for information. (cut and pasted from the original response.)
A. Everyone was interested in understanding better relates to the movement of the new courts. Response provide by David Marks, Project Manager
1. When this decision was made and by whom. The original design concept which was presented by the design team in July 2004 was there initial pass at incorporating the requests by the Planning committee to provide 2 new Tennis Courts as required by the original Initiative Ballot, a Volleyball court and a sports court facility for basketball and other potential outdoor activities. Once this plan was developed it was then the teams charge to get buy in from the neighboring community and Town. Please note that this concept was prior to any town approvals and part of the process toward getting our conditional use permit. Once the concept was provided to both the neighbors and the Town it became very apparent that they opposed the location of the sport court facility and Volleyball ball location due to noise concerns. It was very clear from the onset of this project, in order to get our approvals we would need to appease both the neighboring community and the Town. With that feedback and the additional information received from both our traffic consultant and Civil Engineer it was obvious the configuration shown on our original design concept would not meet the parking requirements and would add substantial costs to the grading efforts that would be needed at Judge Field. Therefore, a new concept was developed to still meet the original requests by the committed. The sport courts were relocated to the fitness center which made lots of sense and the Tennis courts were moved back to align with the existing courts to provide a cohesive and uniformed tennis complex. These modifications resulted in the neighbors supporting our project along with the Town, additionally avoiding potential cost impacts due to the amount of grading and demolition that would have been required to make the original concept work These changes were made very early in the process and presented in future presentations to the members.
Additionally, why was the decision made to move to knowingly softer ground and why were key people involved in tennis at TPC not included; most notably Steve, Sophie, Jordan or I. Provided by David Marks, Project Manager
Soil borings were taken in the worst areas of the proposed new Tennis Courts, the South side of the courts closest to the marsh. The soil conditions were known upon completion of these tests and where incorporated into the soils report provided by the Geotechnical Engineer. The south side of the court was designed to receive light weight fill material due to its proximity to the marsh. The rest of the soils conditions were identified in this report and where known regardless of the placement off the courts on Judge Field. With any type of excavation of this kind, it is very difficult to determine the wetness of the soil until excavation begins. Once excavation begins, you then determine what type of conditions you have and deal with them appropriately. This is just how the process works when dealing with excavation activities. The soft spots which were encountered due to wet soil were than excavated and brought up to the compaction required as inspected and approved by the soils inspector. In the end we will have a supreme surface due to the excess base rock required to meet compaction.
2. Most importantly, is there any guarantee by Saviano as to the integrity of the new courts on this wet land? We experience a degradation in integrity of the back lower courts and thought we were going to have solid court base surfaces with the original location.
Saviano has guaranteed the integrity of the courts as this was in their contract. Additionally, the on sight soils inspector would not have released them for paving unless they feel comfortable with eh installation as they eventually become responsible for approving the installation methods.
Chris, were we forced to compromise in an effort to further reduce the expenditure allocated to tennis?
B. Maintenance items that were outlined by Sophie Carrel. Are Peter or Salvador (whomever has been assigned the task) having difficulty with time that they cannot follow through on court upkeep and maintenance? We have found courts not squeegeed, benches not wiped down (most critical on match days). I have seen them around the club helping out with the construction and maybe we just need to have our expectations set now as to what the maintenance guys can do now relative to that list and how that will change when the club is up and running. Not to misunderstand me and my intention; they are great and very helpful but have we expected too much now? I might with my maintenance crew again today and re-emphasized the importance of keeping the tennis courts well maintained and playable. They fully understood the priority of the situation so I think it will be a non issue moving forward.
C. Ball Machine Court I heard on Monday that there is money set aside for this project. Can you confirm that the timing has been set at the end of the renovation?
Timing for this project is up to the board to determine.
D. Shadows on Court #6
Any chance the trees can be trimmed to reduce the shadowing / moisture on that court. It is getting increasingly worse as time goes by. I do remember we talked about this a while ago, but don't recall the answer. I will meet with Peter Brooks, my tree guy, and get his recommendation and a cost to do the work.
E. Water Dispensers
Wonderful upgrade from Igloo coolers and everyone I talk to with is happy. However, we are running into problems on courts 1 & 4. During a match you cannot leave the court and therefore if no one is available to bring water to the playing individuals they need to skip it which is not a liability we want to have going into warmer weather. Is it out of the question to put one more on each court 1 & 4. Opponents of ours have acutally contacted the head of Sonoma Napa Marin to complain about this. I ordered two more coolers which should be delivered tomorrow to add to the upper courts. Two of our new coolers were broken during the last storm due to the wind. The Arrowhead driver is bringing replacement parts tomorrow.
F. Donation / Rental of Courts
The TC is going to address the issue of the rental of courts (member sponsored). In the past what was the procedure, how often was this done, what was the cost. Further, what was rental procedure and cost, limitations etc. on Homan Hall. We understand that this issue has broader implications as most likely a group might want to rent the courts then carry over to the cafe or bar, so once we have an outline we will work with the appropriate committee.
Very few requests for court rentals since I have been here. But for the few we developed a rental policy that limited the rentals to Sunday afternoon after 2 pm. Cost is $25 per court per hour with a maximum of four courts and 2 hours. Guest fees were $10 per person and any pro fees added if required. I am sure that new rental policies and rates for all the facilities will be established as we move into the new club.
Future Planning Committee dates – TBD
Tennis Operating Budget – TBD - Court resurfacing to be scheduled.
Committee Reports
Ladies League:
8 USTA Teams registered for Spring 2006. Scheduling underway. Scheduling priorities should be as follows: weekday mornings 9-10:30, 10:30-12noon. Afternoon scheduling: 1:00pm-1:30pm, 1:30pm-3pm. USTA Men’s league have priority from 5pm on. All weekday evening and weekend scheduling for ladies league must be reviewed and accepted by Steve Jackson before posting on the USTA website.
All evening matches will require all 5 positions at the same time and will require a 3rd set tiebreaker.
Men’s League:
5 USTA Teams signed-up. Clinics are currently scheduled Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Junior League:
Spring Leagues to be held on upper courts (max 3).
Summer Adult Programs: Introducing Cardio Clinics for Adults. Offered to men and women combined and will be based on levels. Offered weekdays and weekends.
Action Item: Forum notes from Sophie: items that need to be prioritized: lower court bathrooms, gazebos, office, bubble, ball machines.
We need to find creative ways to get funding for these items since they are out of the scope of the project at this time.
Chris Horne recommends a separate joint meeting with the P.C. and the project Manager NOW to discuss the scope of the project specifically pertaining to tennis.
An aside: Parking issues in Judge Field will get critical when court surfacing starts.
Action Item: By not building the viewing deck, can we get that money re appropriated to Tennis?
Action Item: Jordan suggested that a representative from each committee should be present at all planning committee meetings. This would help ensure proper communication between all the different channels. Jordan also suggested a TC representative be at the Board Meetings too. Next Board Meeting will be March 27th at 6:30pm at Town Hall.
Action Item: Steve Jackson to work out a Club Championship date. Suggested dates are June 17th and 18th for Singles and Sept 23-24 or Oct 23-24 for doubles.
Action Item: TC to prioritize Forum notes.
Action Item: Diane would like to organize a weekday match between the A1, A2 and A3 ladies.
Action Item: On the agenda for next meeting, TC needs to put parameters around “member sponsored club donations of courts”. Need current policy from Chris Horne on this to get started
Future Meeting Dates Minutes Recorder
Tuesday March 28th, 2006 -12:15pm – Location Tiburon Town hall
Community Room – upstairs Cris Schonefeld
Tuesday April 25th, 2006 – 12:15pm – Location TBD Kathleen Brady
Tuesday May 30th 2006 – 12:15pm – Location TBD Diane Bradford
Tuesday June 27th, 2006 – 12:15pm – Location TBD Laura Fennema