Should “Use Rules” be written with rules that are straight forward or can they allow for flexibility?

Started by BruceD1 • 4 replies • 1368 views

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BruceD1 (Georgia)
Posts: 59

Posted:

The tennis committee is in the early stages of rewriting our Tennis "Use Rules" for the BOD vote for our community. The problem I see is they are putting the tennis committee as well as the BOD in a position of making judgment calls from time to time. Is this a bad idea? Or should the rules be direct?
Example:

Suggested Rule by Tennis Committee:
Teams must be comprised of TPCA members in good standing only. Non – members may be added to team rosters on a per season /per team basis and must be approved by the tennis committee Approval of a non-resident will be based on its effect/benefit on existing teams and the best interest of the Community. Once a non-resident is added to a roster there is no guarantee of a place on future rosters. Non-residents will be approved on a per team / per season basis in cases of extreme circumstances. These circumstances will be accessed and determined by the tennis committee Non-residents may be charged a seasonal playing fee to be determined by the tennis committee and TPCA Board of Directors.

Should it be this:
TPCA approved Teams must be comprised of TPCA members only.

Also, can we put limits of tennis court usage based on age? (The federal Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA))

Example: Juniors (under 12) must yield to adults during prime time unless accompanied by an adult; Weekdays: 9:00a.m.-12:00 noon and 6:30p.m.-10:00p.m. Weekends: 9:00 a.m.-2:00p.m.

Thanks,
Bruce
President

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Bruce,

A couple of questions first. Is there any reason FINANCIALLY that you would allow outside players to use your courts or is this strictly an allowence to fill the team rosters? How many courts do you have? And how busy are they on a day to day basis?

You can put limits on age requirements and having an adult with them is definitely the correct restriction. BUT, I would never include that the Junior must yield to an adult member. Imagine the worst scenerio--an older member sees a junior and decides that he(the senior) wants to play just to get the junior off of the court. Believe me, that can happen so I am not fond of that restriction. The hourly restrictions are during the day when kids should be in school so that does not seem right either.

Now the suggested rules are too vague in some of the terminology such as
"approval of a non-resident will be based on it's effect/benefit of exhisting teams and the best interest of the community" What does that mean, who determines what is the best interest. Non residents will be approved on a per team basis in cases of extreme circumstances"?? Again, what does that mean, who decides this and is there a very explicit definition of who and what it is?

I would be very cautious on being this general in the wording as this is open to interpretations. I would cautious you that indeed the Tennis committee should have input on these proposed rules but do they also consider the general population of the membership. Are these basically the tennis team members or just a general mix of the members?

BruceD1 (Georgia)
Posts: 59

Posted:

DonnaS,

Thanks.

Is there any reason FINANCIALLY that you would allow outside players to use your courts or is this strictly an allowence to fill the team rosters? allowence to fill the team roster.

How many courts do you have? We have 4 courts and currently we have 305 homeowners or 76 homes per court. At completion 375 homeowners with 4 courts.

How busy are they on a day to day basis? They are hard to get, we currently have (3 Men's ALTA and 4 Women's ALTA), 12-15 Adult T2 (not sponsored by our community), Juniors T2 teams (which are afforded prime time scheduling & not sponsored by our community) K-Swiss, and Ultimate Tennis league play.

Are these basically the tennis team members or just a general mix of the members? They are tennis team members

Note our tennis players are by far our most active group of Association members. What i'm concern about is that we have too many teams playing out of our neighborhood that are not sponsored by the association. Another issue, reservations are allowed for 1.5 hours and some of the T2 matches (not sponsored) last longer than 1.5 hours. Which has caused problems with other reservations.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Bruce,
I think that you have answered your own question in that you have "too many teams playing out of our neighborhood that are not sponsored by the association"

I would phase them out perhaps by a date down the road or whatever works for both the association and the visitor teams. Being not directly involved, I cannot make a judgement call on this but it sounds like there is almost maximum use of the courts and that is speaking very admirabley to the tennis players for using an amenity and not letting it just sit there and get sun baked. But for sure, the ambiguity of the proposed rules by the Tennis committee is of concern to me.

HaroldS (Arizona)
Posts: 906

Posted:

We've had previous discussions here about outside swim teams dominating and defining pool times for members. Now your tennis courts might be doing the same? As a dues paying member I would be very vocal about "my" amenities being dominated and dictated by outside users. If a member needs any excuse at all to quit paying dues, being unable to use the amenities would be right up there. You need to take control from the tennis group and be concerned about adequate use times for your paying members. Actually four courts for that many future homes sounds like a real headache to provide enough court time for every resident who wants it, much less catering to outside players. Harold

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