Habersham pickleball club seeks fee waiver tied to Special Needs Basketball donation

A request to waive the court-reservation fee for a Habersham County Pickleball Club event was before the county’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board in October 2025, with the club proposing to direct its event registration proceeds to the Recreation Department’s Special Needs Basketball Program. Peggy Fortson described the arrangement at the meeting reflected in signed Oct. 21 minutes. The county record identifies the item as a request for approval, but it does not document a final board action.

The question is not simply whether players pay to reserve courts. It concerns how a county agreement treats fundraising events that charge registration fees: whether the club may avoid a reservation charge when the money is instead donated to a county program or local charity. That choice affects the use of public recreation facilities and determines where proceeds from a fee-based pickleball event would go.

The request first appeared on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board’s Oct. 18 agenda as an item seeking approval to waive a pickleball court rental fee for a local charity. By the Oct. 21 signed minutes, Fortson had explained that the pickleball club’s memorandum of understanding with the county had been re-approved at a Board of Commissioners meeting on the preceding Monday. Under the arrangement she described, a fee waiver could be considered when the club reserves courts for a registration-fee event and donates those funds, subject to advisory-board approval.

The Habersham County Pickleball Club’s position, as described by Fortson, was to use the agreement’s donation option for this event and send the registration money to Special Needs Basketball rather than pay the court reservation fee. The advisory board is the body identified in the agreement description as needing to approve a waiver. The county Recreation Department would be the selected recipient of the funds; the minutes do not record a competing proposal, a public objection or a stated position from county staff on the request.

The documented action is a proposal, not a confirmed waiver. The Oct. 18 agenda placed the request before the advisory board, and the Oct. 21 minutes record Fortson’s explanation of the club’s memorandum and intended donation. Those materials do not establish that the advisory board voted, that a fee was actually waived, that registration funds were collected or transferred, or that the event occurred. They also do not show amendments, costs or measurable results from the proposal.

Residents seeking a conclusive answer will need a later advisory-board record, meeting minutes or recorded vote showing how the request was handled. Until then, it remains unsettled whether the requested waiver took effect, whether the club made the proposed donation to Special Needs Basketball, and whether any conditions or changes accompanied the arrangement.