Championship-Caliber Facility : Pro Courts Burbank for OK on Tennis Complex

Steve Starleaf wants to have a ball in Burbank. He wants to have lots of them.

In fact, it would take about 8 acres and $6 million to $10 million to take care of all the balls Starleaf wants.

Starleaf, 32, a former all-American and pro who now teaches tennis professionally, has a vision of building a championship-caliber tennis complex and family sports complex in Burbank. The center would not only be one of the largest of its kind in Southern California, but it could develop into one of five regional training centers of the United States Tennis Assn., the official sponsor for national tennis athletes.

Starleaf has decided to court the city of Burbank to make his vision come true. The Burbank City Council will consider his proposal at Tuesday’s council meeting in City Hall.

Quality of Life

“This is not just a tennis issue, this is a quality of life issue,” said Starleaf, who also runs a tennis shop in the Villa Cabrini condominiums. “There just aren’t high quality tennis courts in the city. How come you can play quality tennis every place but Burbank?

“All the pieces seem to fit now. There’s never been a better time to do something like this,” he said.

The site is near the city’s De Bell Municipal Golf Course and the Starlight Amphitheatre, on a hill far above a residential area. The center would include 18 to 20 outdoor and indoor tennis courts, a swimming pool and a clubhouse with facilities for racquetball, basketball and weight training.

Starleaf is one of several limited partners who would finance, build and operate the center with private funding. “I know I’m young, but I’m a big dreamer and have a lot of energy,” he said. “I’m looking to channel that energy somewhere.”

He said he thought the center would have national impact in the tennis world. “I feel this is important,” Starleaf said. “The United States is falling behind in tennis. Sweden, Czechoslovakia, all these other countries have champions. A center like this would be a major incentive toward establishing a national program to build tennis champions.”

Starleaf even thinks such a center would survive in a remote district of Burbank. “We have everything here: hotels, an airport,” he said. “Burbank may be a little out of the way, but people will still come.”

The City Council last week seemed to be leaning toward approving the project, although most of them said they wanted more details before making a final decision.

Councilwoman Mary Kelsey, who lives in the area below the site, said people in the neighborhood have not complained about the proposal and seemed to want the complex in their neighborhood. The nearest home would be more than 1,000 feet away.

‘Good Possibilities’

“I think it has some good possibilities,” Kelsey said. “It wouldn’t be a tourist attraction, so I don’t anticipate any big crowds there. There are more tennis players in this town than I thought.”

Starleaf had encountered some resident opposition when he had originally planned late last year to put the complex in the Verdugo Mountains near several housing developments.

“That was within 50 yards of homes, and there was really no easy way to get in and out of that location,” Starleaf said. “This one is much, much better.”

Bob Kramer, executive director of the Southern California Tennis Assn., which is a branch of the national organization, said the project may be adequate for a regional training center. “The way it’s planned, I’m sure it would be one of the premiere tennis complexes in the country,” he said. “But we’ll just have to see what the city decides.”

Starleaf said he was “optimistically cautious” about getting approval from the city. “I hated it when my mom used to have to drive me around all over because there was no place to play tennis in Burbank,” he said. “I want to make a difference for young tennis players in Burbank. I mean, why not here?”