Politics & Government

All Outdoor Game Courts Now Must be Preapproved in Wildwood

A public hearing was held, and a new policy regarding outdoor sports, or game, courts will be in place in Wildwood.

Wildwood city ordinances in the past dictated that outdoor game courts, sometimes called sports courts, that are more than 1,000 square feet must be reviewed and approved by the city's Planning and Zoning Commissioners.

Wildwood adopted new regulations about outdoor game courts that since June 2012, remained "largely untested," said Wildwood Director of Planning and Parks Joe Vujnich at the public hearing held last Monday regarding these sports courts.

Regulations focused mainly on:

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  • ensuring the outdoor courts did not intrude on neighboring properties;
  • making sure stormwater runoff requirements were addressed through the approved plans of subdivisions;
  • ensuring homeowner association participation was part of the city's process;
  • lessening visual impacts by installing landscaping;
  • controlling lighting of these facilities; and
  • helping neighbors be good neighbors.

Due to recent residents' concerns about dangerous projectiles, noise pollution, light pollution and environmental impacts potentially resulting from outdoor game courts, more attention was devoted to the governing regulations.

Vujnich said outdoor courts were very different from any other type of structures that move through the city's processes, given the reach and level of impacts on neighbors.

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Planning and Zoning commissioners were seen by other city representatives as the best arbiters of proposed outdoor game/sports courts, so the city regulations now state that all courts need review and approval from the commissioners.

"Before installation of outdoor game courts, the city has an obligation to address considerations and protect the public's health, safety and general welfare," said Vujnich.

He said there appear to be two general sizes of courts:  1,200 square feet or half of that dimension.

Vujnich said four to five outdoor courts per year typically are erected in Wildwood.

No one spoke during the patron comments' portion of this public hearing.


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