Pickleball courts in Dr. Phillips

The neighborhood

Dr. Phillips grew up in the 1980s and 1990s around Bay Hill, Sand Lake Road and the Tibet Butler chain, and the lots show it: a third to a half acre, a pool with a screen enclosure, a 6 foot privacy fence and a side yard sometimes only 5 feet wide. There is almost always room for a 30 by 60 court behind the cage. There is almost never room to drive a concrete truck to it. Most Dr. Phillips courts are pumped over the house, which adds $800 to $1,500, and we say so on the first visit rather than on the invoice.

The ground is kind. Most of Dr. Phillips sits on the sandy ridge west of I 4 and drains fast; a lot of courts here need little or no fill. The exceptions are the low lots on the lakes and the pockets with documented subsidence, which the county has on record. On a lake lot we probe the footprint for organic soil before ordering concrete; on an upland lot we compact and go. The drainage guide explains what we are looking for.

Permits: unincorporated Orange County

Dr. Phillips and Bay Hill are not in the City of Orlando. Permits go through Orange County's Fast Track system: the slab as an accessory structure, a building permit for any fence over 6 feet, a zoning permit for a lower one, an electrical permit for lights, and a tree permit for any large oak that has to come out. Orange County's open space rule requires 40 percent of a residential lot to remain private open space, and the code treats pools and tennis courts differently from sheds in that calculation. Ask the zoning counter how a court is counted on your lot before you design it; the permits guide has the office and the rest.

Bay Hill and the review boards

Bay Hill, Phillips Landing, Turtle Creek and the gated sections along Apopka Vineland have architectural review. Expectations run toward fencing that matches the pool enclosure, lights on a curfew, and a court that cannot be seen from the golf course. A complete packet with site plan, elevations, colors, fixture cut sheets and a photometric plan gets through on the first meeting most of the time.

What we build in Dr. Phillips

New pickleball courts behind the pool cage, usually 30 by 60 with 10 foot end fences and lights because evening play is the only summer play. Multi sport courts for families with teenagers. A steady run of tennis conversions on the Bay Hill lots that still have a 1980s court. Costs track the metro ranges on the cost page, plus the pump. West of here: Windermere.