The Engineers Country Club presented a preliminary plan to upgrade its tennis and racquetball courts at Thursday’s Roslyn Harbor Board of Trustees meeting.
“If you drive around the property in a golf cart, you’ll see this amazing golf course, two thumbs up,” Club general manager Greg Schroeder told the board. “The clubhouse has personality. When you get down to the tennis area, it looks like Godzilla’s playground. It’s dilapidated, beat up, dated.”
“What I’m tasked to do is make our tennis and racquet sports facility look like the golf course, the clubhouse,” he continued.
Schroeder said he was not at the meeting to file an official application.
“I don’t have a formal proposal just yet,” he said. “This is more conversational.”
The club currently has five tennis courts. The upgrade plan would include a sixth tennis court and four pickleball courts. Schroeder said the club would raze an existing but empty house on the property to extend the court space.
“We’ve got this structure that’s kind of beat up; it doesn’t really serve a purpose for what we’re doing; it’s right in the middle of the tennis area,” he said.
He said the club is also considering sacrificing approximately 20 parking spaces to build a permanent gazebo that matches the clubhouse’s facade. The gazebo will feature a patio and fans to keep guests cool. Adjacent to that would be four pickleball courts.
Schroeder said he employed H2M architects and engineers to assess the grounds and provide data for the board to consider.
“I am working with H2M to come up with something formal,” Schroeder said. “I think they’ll have a lot of questions answered before we get the chance to ask them.”
Building Superintendent Peter Albinski and board members expressed concerns about the placement of the pickleball courts, saying the sport is not known for being particularly quiet.
“To me, this is all about impact on neighbors,” Albinski said. “Anything with mitigation of sound is going to be key.”
Schroeder said that H2M has already begun recommending materials for the new courts that would help dull extra noise. He said H2M recommended building a sound wall, which is common for outdoor pickleball courts, to muffle the sound.
Board members also sought clarification on the proposed gazebo.
“It’s not my intention to build another clubhouse,” Schroeder said. “This is an open structure for folks to have a snack or a cup of coffee in between matches.”
He said formal dining will not be offered in the gazebo space, and events or gatherings will remain indoors.
Schroeder also said the club is not planning to add lighting to the new courts or the gazebo.
“This is a daytime activity,” he said. “We don’t currently have lights [at the courts], and we don’t plan to add any.”
He said residents won’t have to worry about bright lights shining in their windows all night.
To move forward with a formal proposal, the club will need to acquire demolition and site plan permits.
Schroeder said he hopes to have a plan for the board in the coming weeks.
The upgrades would come at a very convenient time as another club in Manhasset, Shelter Rock Tennis & Country Club, is scheduled to close.
“There’s probably 150 members of Shelter Rock who are about to be without a tennis club,” Schroeder said. He hopes that with a potential influx in members, the upgrades to the facility will keep up the standard of the club and offer members an exciting new place in Roslyn to play tennis.
