By Jeffrey Cassady
New croquet courts might be coming to Delray Beach, but city commissioners want to know more about the costs and impact of bringing the game to city recreational facilities before they decide if — and where — to build.
The commission directed city staff at its regular meeting on May 19 to develop a plan that includes costs, building timelines, site plans and potential funding sources for new croquet facilities — with Mayor Tom Carney urging they be built at Veterans Park.
The discussion, which occasionally sparked heated exchanges among commissioners, comes after the commission asked city staff last year to begin researching the feasibility of bringing croquet to the city.
“We have an idea here, but we have no plans,” Deputy Vice Mayor Tom Markert said at the meeting. “You can’t possibly expect any of us up here to make a decision on this today. I mean, I gotta see a business plan.”
Croquet is a growing sport in South Florida, said David McCoy, chair emeritus of the West Palm Beach-based Croquet Foundation of America. At the meeting, McCoy gave a presentation about croquet’s appeal and its history in the area.
At least nine resorts and private clubs between Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach — including The Boca Raton resort — play host to croquet clubs, according to material in McCoy’s presentation. Even in Gulf Stream, where polo mallets once ruled the town’s social season, croquet mallets are now swung on courts at The Little Club and at St. Andrews Club.
McCoy said he estimates that about a thousand croquet players are associated with those various clubs.
Veterans Park and the city-owned Delray Beach Golf Club emerged last year as leading candidates to play host to Delray Beach’s proposed croquet facilities.
“It’s consistent with your mission of providing recreation and a meeting place for the community,” McCoy said of croquet courts at Veterans Park. “I think you can expect a very high utilization.”
McCoy estimated that installing croquet courts would cost $200,000 each. He added that using artificial turf for the lawns could help keep ongoing maintenance costs down.
“I think putting in artificial turf is the way to go there,” McCoy said. “You have room for two beautiful courts.”
Carney said croquet could benefit both Veterans Park, a waterfront park at 802 NE First St., as well as the surrounding area by attracting more people.
“All the demographics suggest that this will be a great success,” Carney said. “It’s something that will bring people downtown.
“And when they’re downtown, (they’ll) stay downtown and go utilize the facilities around it,” Carney added. “And because it’s a low-impact sport, you can be 9 or 90” years old.
Veterans Park currently boasts shuffleboard and lawn bowling courts, either of which may be affected by the introduction of croquet.
Commissioner Juli Casale said parking poses a challenge at Veterans Park and that the city should consider putting croquet lawns at the golf club instead.
She also expressed concerns about how installation and maintenance of the croquet facilities would be funded and whether it made sense to have city staff continue to work on potential plans for croquet before funding sources could be identified.
“We don’t have the money,” Casale said. “I don’t understand where we’re going to find it. … Until we have the money, I don’t think we should have another meeting on this.”
Carney proposed using excess park-improvement bond funds as a way to pay for the croquet lawns without affecting the general budget.
However, City Attorney Lynn Gelin said installing croquet lawns at Veterans Park might not be an appropriate use of those funds.
Carney, also an attorney, disagreed, saying a plain-text reading of the bond’s language provides flexibility to fund additional projects. Gelin said she’d investigate the issue further.
Carney also raised concerns about how placing the croquet lawns at the Delray Beach Golf Club could affect bond issuance associated with that property.
The golf club is undergoing $28.5 million in renovations. It is expected to reopen in November, according to the golf club’s website.
Further, by installing the croquet lawns at the golf club west of Interstate 95, the downtown area would miss additional business that croquet players could bring there, Carney said.
“If you put it at the golf course, you are not doing anything to help downtown,” Carney said. If croquet players “have to get into their cars to go to lunch, they’re not driving downtown.”
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