The city of Leesburg shuffleboard courts, located at 321 S. Palmetto Street, will formally close at 4:30 pm on Friday, November 7.

On August 25, the Leesburg City Commissioners voted 4-1 to donate the site where the courts are located to the Forward Paths Organization. Completion of the property transfer is expected to take several weeks. As a result, normal activities at the shuffleboard courts are being permitted until the end of business day on November 7. The facility will be permanently closed beyond that, as it will no longer be under the city’s ownership.

A notice advising the public of the closure has been posted at the site.

Forward Paths President Jacob Bonynge outlined the nonprofit’s plan.

“Our proposal is to build ten tiny homes there, each two-bedroom, one-bathroom homes.” he says. “This will house a total of 20 youths that we serve. With our nonprofit, we serve youth’s who have aged out of foster care or who are at risk of homelessness.”

(These are similar homes in Lake County that were created for at-risk individuals providing them with a roof over their heads.)

Commissioner Jay Connell disagreed with using the recreational land for housing.

“Shuffleboard courts have been there for 50 years,” he says. “This is Forward Paths coming in and deciding they want our shuffleboard courts. I’ve never heard of an organization that is bold enough just to come in and say, we want that portion of your recreational property, give it to us. I’m open to donating other properties to them, but not our recreational property.”

Commissioner Connell would be the only no vote as the Commission voted 4-1 to approve.

Photos by Nicole Hamel