Pickleball courts in Lake Nona

The Lake Nona situation

The USTA National Campus sits in the middle of the community, every amenity center has courts, and a backyard court is a normal thing to ask an architectural review board for. The hard part is room. Lake Nona Golf and Country Club and the estate sections have the acreage; Laureate Park, Eagle Creek and the newer villages run 50 to 70 foot wide lots where a 30 by 60 court fits only if the pool is not already across the back. We measure the rectangle after the 10 to 15 foot rear easement and the side setbacks, and we tell people straight when a 26 by 54 court is what the lot allows.

The ground is flatwoods sand with a high wet season water table, and almost every lot drains to a retention pond through a rear easement. Courts here are raised 6 inches, on fill, with the slope set to the pond side. A court poured at lawn level in Lake Nona holds water at the edge every afternoon from June to September; we have seen it and we do not build it. The drainage guide explains the layers.

Permits: City of Orlando

Lake Nona is inside the City of Orlando, so permits go through the City's permitting services, not Orange County. The City caps impervious surface by zoning district, commonly 55 percent, and a new construction lot with house, driveway, pool and deck can already be near it. A court slab is 1,800 square feet. Check the number before you design; a tile court on a permeable base is one way through if the slab pushes the lot over. The permits guide has the rest.

The HOA packet

Lake Nona's boards have seen court applications and most have positions: fence materials, pole heights, a lighting curfew, sometimes a surface noise requirement. A complete packet is a site plan with the court dimensioned to the lines, fence and pole elevations, color chips, fixture cut sheets and a photometric plan. Submit to the board before the City; it is the slower approval. Our builders have done this for several of the villages and know what each board asks for.

What gets built

Mostly new pickleball courts in the 30 by 60 to 34 by 64 range with 10 foot end fences, four LED poles on a timer and cushioned acrylic or tile for the neighbors. A lot of driveways with pickleball lines in the smaller villages, which the existing slab page covers. Half courts on the golf club lots. A typical Lake Nona court with fence and lights lands $38,000 to $50,000; the cost page shows a worked budget for a Lake Nona lot with a pool cage.