Mountainview - Option 6 – The Grand Compromise I appreciate all the work that has gone into the Mountainview center renovation planning. Tom Foster indicated the board will vote in 8 days to move forward with one of the five options presented. Since all options include the Player’s wish list, we are left to assume the theater has a slanted floor with fixed seating which makes it unsuitable for anything but performances. There is a far superior option for the “performance space” that the data on actual usage fully supports. The usage data for Mountainview shows the auditorium was only used by someone 36% of the time it was available. The Player’s Club used the space 68% of the time, movies were shown 26% of the time and Dance For fitness used the auditorium 2.6%. During May, June, July, and August the auditorium sits empty for almost all of the time but still needs to be air conditioned. (2022 data supplied by RCSC) The 900 or so Pickleball club members would love to have some place to play in the summer which is out of the scorching heat. Unlike tennis, portable pickleball nets and barriers are used quite often on multiple court surfaces. They are easy and quick to set up and dismantle. Many of the newer 55+ communities are touting the use of tall ceiling structures to play pickleball in. So how can we get the most bang for the buck out of the Mountainview renovation and meet the needs of as many members as possible? Having a flat floor with retractable theater seating makes the building much more usable by a much greater number of members, including pickleball players who want to play in the summer. I estimate that at least 4 temporary courts with portable nets could fit in the building and be set up in about 15 minutes. All that is required is to have the lines painted on the floor. In addition, flat floor buildings can be used by dance groups like line dancing, annual holiday parties, craft fairs, and many more things while still being quite suitable for performances. And in the “disaster case” where the Players club disbands the building can be repurposed. This is what I call option 6 and I am certain it can be even less expensive than any of the other options. My vote is for option 6.
I would hate to be in the back row of a 400 seat theater with a flat floor. Not much a view of the stage.
