Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Samantha Nelson’s role with bid requests, as according to the lawsuit filed by Mario DiLonardo. This information was unable to be verified by the city, so it was removed from the story.
The city is more than doubling the fees it will collect from tennis players in Coronado under a new revenue-sharing structure, with a major chunk of the increased revenues going to a private contractor that operates Coronado’s public courts.
According to a new fee schedule adopted by the City Council on Sept. 17, income from tennis fees is expected to jump from $73,000 to $192,000 by the third year.
The company that manages the courts, Impact Activities, will receive nearly half of that additional money, but will increase its rental payments to the city on a graduated scale.
The city was able to renegotiate the terms with Impact due to a provision in the contract that stated the monthly rent, or any other terms of the agreement, could be renegotiated with the concessionaire.
According to Tim Farmer, director of Recreation and Golf Services, that means the contract didn’t need to go up for bid again. The city didn’t need to open this up to possible new concessionaires since they were allowed to renegotiate within the terms of the contract.
Many residents spoke up at the last City Council meeting to voice disagreement with the proposed fee increase.
Officials responded that players are being undercharged for court time and that the city is currently oversubsidizing tennis operations.
Council member Casey Tanaka said the increased tennis court fees for residents is reasonable.
“Currently, we’re charging you $5 for a court for two hours, and I have to say, my common sense tells me that’s kind of a giveaway,” Tanaka said. “If we look at the worst rate: $2.50 per hour, per person.
“So someone played tennis for two hours, how much did we charge you? We charged you $5. I just have a hard time saying we’re ripping you off. I have a hard time saying that’s highway robbery.”
In 2023, Impact Activities collected $73,000 for court reservations and paid the city $50,000 in rent, netting $23,000.
According to city projections, under the new fee schedule, in three years court reservations will total $192,000 with Impact Activities paying the city a total of $98,400. Under that structure, the company would net $93,600 – a 406% increase. That’s in addition to 100% of revenues from tennis instruction.
The city would get a 197% increase in court use revenues under the new fee schedule.
History of Impact Activities
Impact Activities’ company president Matt Hanlin worked for Coronado as a tennis professional in 2010 before leaving for Texas.
He came back with Impact and signed a contract with Coronado in 2021, and the group was soon involved in a lawsuit with a former Coronado tennis professional, Mario DiLonardo, who taught at the Tennis Center.
The lawsuit alleged that the contract was fraudulent and in violation of city codes.
In Sept. 2023, the city agreed to pay DiLonardo $10,000 to settle with a stipulation that there was no “liability or unlawful conduct of any kind,” according to the agreement obtained under California’s Public Records Act from the city.
The numbers
Currently, city residents pay a $5 flat fee for two hours of tennis, whether it’s singles or doubles. The proposal would charge $2.50 hourly for each person. As a result, the price for two hours of doubles for residents would increase from $5 per group to $20 per group.
The revised contract would provide an incremental fee change each year for residents. The staff report outlined that the first year would be $1.50/hr. per person, the second year would increase to $2/hr. per person and the third year would be $2.50/hr. per person.
Non-residents pay a flat fee of $15 for two hours of tennis. The proposal would make it $10 an hour per person on the court starting the first year, and would stay the same through the next two years.
The city is responsible for maintenance of the tennis courts. In 2023, repairs and improvements of the facilities totaled $255,307.
Farmer said the city also covered department staffing costs associated with administering the contracts, utilities and court cleaning.
The adopted resolution proposed a revenue-sharing agreement for court reservations in addition to a fixed annual payment, increasing every year.
The first year with the new proposed fees would increase that amount to just over $153,000 with Impact paying the city $56,000 for rent plus 0% of gross court reservation revenue.
In the second year, Impact Activities would receive $172,000 in court fees and pay $58,000 for rent plus 10% of the court revenue.
By the third year, gross court reservation revenue would reach over $192,000 with Impact paying the city $60,000 for rent and 20% of its court revenue.
