Popular recreation in HOA owned parks

Started by HenryS7 • 12 replies • 362 views

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HenryS7 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 336

Posted:

What sports are popular in your community owned HOA parks?

We have facilities for basketball (two courts), play areas, and skate rails for skateboarders.

We're looking at making some small investments in our basketball courts (restriping the lines) to improve the enjoyment of youth who want to play basketball. I would like to replace the hoops (ours are about 15 years old and are starting to look dated).

I don't think the skate rails are popular today. Never see kids using them. Past board have been concerned about liability. I would like to get rid of them but need homeowner consensus. We have a fairly apathetic community (until we make a faux pas) so it is hard to find out what people want until they get upset, so I am a little gunshy about removing the skate rails at this time.

I would like to explore the idea of a community p-patch garden. This is a place where there might be a dozen or so small gardens and each homeowner can tend to one garden and grow stuff during the growing season. They are wildly popular in my neck of the woods. Not sure how popular they would be in our community though.

What other recreation activities are popular in your HOA owned parks?

PatJ1 (North Carolina)
Posts: 568

Posted:

We don't have one but have considered a Disc Golf Target as an addition to our recreation area.

KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239

Posted:

Henry,

We converted our dilapidated tennis court from the 1980s into a dog park since many of our properties are condos and townhomes with no yards and leash laws. It didn't affect liability insurance as dogs are the property of the owner by NC law but we did get signage sign-off from the local government that established endorsed rules of operation for all who entered.

I'm not sure how big your community is or whether the makeup of housing but there's one thing......

MichaelS56 (Minnesota)
Posts: 859

Posted:

Whatever you have or will be adding make sure that your insurance agent is aware and that you are covered if a resident or a non-resident gets hurt. Attractive nuisance issue.

Who makes sure that whatever is placed in the park is well maintained etc? Are the owners in the Association demanding more to be added to the park?

MichaelS56 (Minnesota)
Posts: 859

Posted:

LoriM15 (Florida)
Posts: 1,009

Posted:

Pickleball is huge in our area. We had our two asphalt tennis courts set up with temporary (moveable) pickleball nets, but are now converting those tennis courts to permanent courts. It's probably more popular than tennis now.

We also have a volleyball court but it doesn't get used much. The basketball court is used a lot. We also upgraded our children's play area a couple of years ago with new equipment and added an awning for some shade.

We have also done a lot of work on our bocce courts.

We always have requests for a dog park but the only place to put it would be empty land directly behind two homes and we don't think it's fair for those homes to put it there.

HenryS7 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 336

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelS56 on 12/07/2021 5:38 AM
Whatever you have or will be adding make sure that your insurance agent is aware and that you are covered if a resident or a non-resident gets hurt. Attractive nuisance issue.

Who makes sure that whatever is placed in the park is well maintained etc? Are the owners in the Association demanding more to be added to the park?

I'm pretty sure that anything we do will be more benign than the skate park that we already have from a liability standpoint.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

We have a horseshoe pitching plot that nobody has ever used since the HOA was built. Been here just before turnover and several people have been asking for a fenced in dog run.
Keep running into the PM that shoots it down. Always has negative comments about positive things for the community.

KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239

Posted:

I clean out that skate park since it's "dilapidated." Then "study" how to replace it....forever.

BenA2 (Texas)
Posts: 1,273

Posted:

We have a basketball half court which gets quite a bit of use and a volley ball court which gets some use.

I suggest doing a survey to get an idea of interest. We were thinking about garden plots and it seemed to have some interest until we did a survey and found that only a few people would participate.

I recommend ice curling. It would be very expensive and get no use but I bet you would be the only HOA in Arizona to have one. Good bragging rights.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I think a quick survey is a great idea!

ND (PA)
Posts: 792

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By KerryL1 on 12/07/2021 5:10 PM
I think a quick survey is a great idea!

THIS!
You want to know what sort of recreational activities your residents might want in your HOA?? Best thing to do in my opinion is ask your own residents. I'd say invite residents to meetings and have an actual discussion with them, but you don't allow residents to speak, so that's a no-go. You can easily make this same scenario an electronic survey whereby residents in your neighborhood can propose what they'd like to see happen, or what could go away, which would give you somewhere to start.

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

Ax throwing is popular these days.

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