The Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission has a tennis problem.
Too many people want to play tennis on the Coonskin Park courts.
The parks board now is considering charging a fee for tennis instructors that use the court to earn money on lessons and people who reserve courts ahead of time.
"Anyone who uses our courts to make money, ought to pay a fee," said Allen Tackett, the president of the parks board.
It wasn't a problem in the past, when the courts were in need of repair because not as many people were playing on them, said executive director Jeff Hutchinson.
Now, after the Kanawha County Commission donated $60,000 to repair the Coonskin courts, the parks commission is struggling with court reservations.
At the parks commission board meeting, Wednesday, the board decided to form a committee to explore how much they should charge for the courts, if at all.
The board appeared to be in agreement on the fact that if people are making money on the courts, they should have to pay a fee. But some on the board also wanted to charge for reserving the courts, because it limits public use.
"Not something outrageous, but a reasonable fee," Tackett said.
The cost that was suggested was between $5 and $10.
The board agreed they shouldn't be charging the general public or Kanawha County schools to play.
Some of the congestion comes from the new pickleball lines that the parks commission painted on two of the tennis courts. Pickleball is "a cross between tennis, ping-pong and badminton," Hutchinson said. It is popular with older people because it requires less movement than tennis, he said.
If the board approves the fee, revenue from the tennis courts could help the parks pay for other projects, like freeing the pond at Coonskin from algae.
Hutchinson said that the parks commission removed algae and then stirred up the pond by running a motor boat in it. After that, they added a little more water, treated the shallow end with chemicals and added a dye to prevent algae at the bottom of the pond from getting sunlight.
"Those of you who have looked at the lake since Monday can notice a big difference," Hutchinson said.
There is still some algae on the lake, but much less than was there earlier in the summer.
The parks board gave Hutchinson permission to spend up to $6,000 to clean up the lake if current efforts fail.
About 15,500 vehicles have crossed the new entrance bridge since the park put in a tracker on the bridge, shortly before Memorial Day Weekend.
Many of those vehicles have been buses from the YMCA, since summer camps that use Coonskin Park have started up for the summer.
In other parks in the county, Big Bend Golf Course has received many compliments from players, but has a problem with Canada geese.
Dave Pope, who heads up the parks board's golf committee said that getting a border collie would be the most effective way to chase off the geese.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.