Leesburg will shut down the city’s popular shuffleboard courts and hand the land to a nonprofit to build housing for homeless and at-risk young adults.
After more than an hour of emotionally charged public comment from supporters of each endeavor, the commission voted 6 to 1 late Monday to donate the land.
“I understand their compassion for their sport but at the end of the day we’re talking about a game versus talking about providing housing for local residents that are in need,” said commissioner Jimmy Burry, who voted in favor of giving the 1.7-acre plot of land to Forward Paths Foundation.
Forward Paths plans to build 10 small cottages on the site, which will be offered rent free to young adults its efforts support, many of whom are aging out of foster care, are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless.
“A lot of the kids that we get are still in high school. They’re freshly 18. Can you imagine what that’s like to not have anything and to find yourself homeless, with no place to go, no real family support,” said Denise Burry, executive director for Forward Paths and Jimmy Burry’s wife.
The city’s attorney said Jimmy Burry was free to vote on the plan because no one in his family makes money from Forward Paths.
The nonprofit has a similar small-home community in Eustis and wants to expand given the region’s acute housing needs.
The city’s shuffleboard courts were built in 1971 and have been home to the Leesburg Shuffleboard Club since 1985. Many club members were deeply unhappy with the commission’s decision to wipe out the courts at the Palmetto Street Complex.
They came to the commission’s budget meeting on July 10 to ask for money to repave the courts and were then notified they might be torn down.
A petition started after that meeting urged the city to save the courts and got more than 900 signatures.
Dozens of supporters showed up at Monday’s meeting. They draped vinyl “Save the Courts” banners over the chairs. They printed out group photos of the club that they wore like necklaces and told the commission about the impact the courts have had on their lives.
Thomas Brown, a 69-year-old retired schoolteacher, has been playing shuffleboard for 5 years. He said the courts offer him a sense of community. And the game helps him stay physically and mentally active.
While he said he is in support of youth housing, he does not understand why it has to come at the sacrifice of the game he loves.
“It just seems like it was a no-win situation for shuffleboard because it’s not as heart wrenching as homelessness,” Brown said.
Ahead of the vote, Jimmy Burry suggested there are hundreds of other shuffleboard courts in the surrounding area where the club can take its games.
But Rick Tallman, who plays in the Leesburg Shuffleboard Club, said the other courts aren’t large enough to host competitive tournaments or they are on private property.
“If you don’t have a home club, you can’t play in any tournament anywhere, no way, no how,” Tallman said. “It’s an end to the Leesburg Shuffleboard Club. They just bulldozed us out of existence.”
Supporters of the shuffleboard proposal smile after a vote during a meeting of the Leesburg City Commission at the Venetian Center in Leesburg on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. During the meeting, the city voted to get rid of shuffleboard courts to make room for housing for homeless youth and those aging out of foster care. Many opponents to the proposition voiced their displeasure at the meeting. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Commissioner Jay Connell was the lone vote against donating the land to Forward Paths. He said he supports Forward Paths’ initiative. But he doesn’t think it makes sense to surrender the courts.
“This is Forward Paths coming in and deciding they want our shuffleboard courts. I’ve never heard of an organization that is bold enough to just come in and say we want a portion of your recreational property, give it to us,” Connell said.
Connell said there are other plots of land the city could offer the nonprofit for its cottages.
But officials from the nonprofit say the shuffleboard courts are an ideal location because they are within walking distance of schools, grocery stories and businesses where residents could potentially get jobs.
In order to stay in the cottages, the youth have to be either in school or working.
Rick Tallman, who opposed the shuffleboard proposal, speaks during a meeting of the Leesburg City Commission at the Venetian Center in Leesburg on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. During the meeting, the city voted to get rid of shuffleboard courts to make room for housing for homeless youth and those aging out of foster care. Many opponents to the proposition voiced their displeasure at the meeting. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Forward Paths houses a total of 42 young adults in its Eustis cottages and other locations across Lake County. But officials say they have a backlog of people seeking help, and the new cottages will add 20 beds to the nonprofit’s much-needed housing stock.
Sylvana Alcidor became a resident at a Forward Paths apartment when she was 18 and fled her family home because of abuse. In addition to giving her a place to live, the nonprofit paid for her to get her GED and gave her a scholarship to get her nursing degree.
She now works as a nurse at UF Health Leesburg Hospital, she told the commission. “Without Forward Paths, my future probably wouldn’t have been too bright,” she added.
