Members request capital budget funds for work

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

Wednesday, October 15 (3:00 p.m.): Members of the Rossmoor Tennis Club last week implored the RWC Planning Committee to put repairing the Buckeye tennis courts – two of its eight courts in particular – on a list of priority projects for 2026.

Bart Ostro, a Tennis Club member, asked the committee to consider recommending that $250,000 be set aside in the 2026 capital budget for indepth repairs.

“Those courts are in serious need of maintenance that’s been deferred for too long,” Ostro said.

As of last week, the capital project described as “Buckeye Tennis Courts 7 & 8 Rehabilitation” was listed as a “future project” the with no money or date assigned.

Linda Hague, a Tennis Club member, said these courts are used by Rossmoor teams and opponents from other 55-andover communities 25 to 30 times a season for match play. Rossmoor players try to keep the outside players away from courts 7 and 8, she said.

Added club member Lori Davis during Members Forum, “It’s kind of embarrassing.”

While the other six Buckeye courts were resurfaced in July 2024, courts 7 and 8 require much more in-depth repair work. They are both sloped and becoming more so, and are increasingly difficult to play on, Ostro told the Planning Committee. Those courts will soon be completely unplayable, he said.

In September 2023, RWC officials said courts 7 and 8 need full grading under them, and full repaving on top of them. That work, in turn, would require removing (and then replacing) some chainlink fencing and part of a retaining wall to allow the necessary equipment to access those courts.

As is typical for non-agenda topics, committee members did not address the comments the tennis players made at the Oct. 9 meeting.

The Planning Committee received a presentation about RWC’s Enterprise Risk Management plan, which identifies potential risks to the community (including safety, health, financial and operational) and the best ways to prevent problems or tackle them head on if they can’t be prevented.

The 21-page plan (available at www.tinyurl.com/2ar3jjbc), as it stands now, contains few changes from a year ago, and committee members didn’t see a need to add any new chapters to the plan. But committee members said the RWC Board’s recent decision to end paying for $5 million worth of earthquake insurance coverage may require some reconsideration – with the right kind of insurance.

Committee member Adrian Byram said “parametric” insurance, which focuses on occurrence of a specific event – an earthquake reaching a certain magnitude or intensity, for example – and provides pre-determined payouts when predefined parameters are met, may be an appropriate option.

Matheson said RWC is in the process of interviewing four prospective operators of what is now Creekside Grill and Bar, the only restaurant in Rossmoor, as RWC looks to overhaul its overall food and beverage landscape. He said the chosen operator will be revealed soon; Stan Gedeon, who has operated Creekside for over a decade, is one of the four.

Regardless of which operator is ultimately chosen, the Creekside facility will undergo renovations early next year, requiring the restaurant to be closed for a time. Committee member Janet Seldon said Creekside is a culinary lifeline for some Rossmoor residents and asked whether Rossmoor residents would have a dining option inside the gates during the renovations.

Matheson said the prospective operators have “transition plans,” mostly imprecise thus far, that would call for some form of continued restaurant service, or perhaps food truck service, during the renovation period.

Committee members on Oct. 9 got a brief rundown of the various projects currently underway in Rossmoor, especially the start of work on the pickleball structure. That is in addition to various street repaving projects, the pool and spa replastering work at the Fitness Center, and even some work by PG&E.

Ann Mottola, Rossmoor’s director of community services, acknowledged that the various work may get in some residents’ way. “I want to apologize to the community for several months of disruption,” she said.

While RWC and PG&E do only limited coordination of their various work projects, RWC General Manager Jeff Matheson said it’s better the work gets done than not.

“The fact (PG&E’s) here doing upgrades is not a bad thing,” he said.