The news has been mixed of late for pickleballers in the San Gabriel Valley looking for local court space to play their rapidly expanding game.
In some areas, recent decisions have amounted to gains for a growing number of athletes looking for a court to play on. But others have represented setbacks, dredging up simmering tensions over noise complaints and the conversion of tennis courts to pickleball courts.
In La Cañada Flintridge, a “limited” pickleball program at the city’s Glenhaven Park saw its last day on Friday, Oct. 28, after the City Council voted to end it, citing complaints over the noise generated on the courts’ converted tennis courts.
Back in April, the council voted to continue the pilot program, allowing residents to play Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. a.m. to noon on two courts at Glenhaven until a permanent court could be built. The goal was to see if the Glenhaven courts might be the spot — a “good fit” for a sport whose popularity is booming across the region. In effect, the converted courts sought to find a middle ground, allowing mixed use of tennis and pickleball.
Studies were conducted, and the initial phase of the pilot program showed “no adverse impacts to the park, parking demand, or the neighborhood,” according to a staff report.
But things evolved. After the the council extended the pilot program in April, officials noted more traffic on nearby La Granada Way, and the spot grew in popularity among pickleballers, according to a city staff report.
As things buzzed on the courts, so too were the complaints from neighbors about noise levels. Then came parking concerns. There were even efforts to use quieter paddles, and there were complaints that the portable pickleball courts were not set up properly and the game was played outside of the pilot program’s hours.
There are other options in the city, including a small court at the basketball court next to the skate park on Cornishon Avenue on Saturdays, and the city partnered with the YMCA’s indoor pickleball courts on certain days. Those get booked up real fast.
But the council wasn’t ready to play ball on keeping the Glenhaven pickleball scene going, instead voting to discontinue the program.
Pickleball has exploded across the nation, and the San Gabriel Valley is experiencing booming interest, where places like Allendale Park in Pasadena have turned into hubs for scores of weekend athletes and weekday adherents eager to play and to learn the game. It’s become a sort of social scene, but also a recreational outlet.
On any given day, dozens might line up to wait to play on a limited number of courts. The demand for court space has forced cities to figure out how best to allocate any space they do have, if they allocate it at all.
Michael McGregor, left, along with partner Colin Davis play pickleball at Allendale Park in Pasadena on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Citing that demand, back in June, Pasadena officials identified the courts at the city’s McKinley Middle School as a possible location to increase the number of courts in the city.
Its four existing tennis courts had not been used in five years “due to their dilapidated condition.”
On Wednesday, through a joint-use agreement with the Pasadena Unified School District and a significant makeover, the city opened the courts for public use after school.
Under the agreement, the city-use period during the school year will be from 4:30 p.m. to dusk on weekdays and 9 a.m. to dusk on weekends, with the exception of scheduled PUSD events.
All this after repairs to cracks, re-surfacing, striping for pickleball and tennis courts; installation of new pickleball and tennis court posts and netting; chain link gate and fence repairs; installation of new site furnishings including benches; and trimming of trees and shrubs impacting the court playing area.
At 325 South Oak Knoll Ave., the newly opened hub includes two pickleball courts, two tennis courts, and one hybrid court that could be used as a tennis court or two pickleball courts.
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