Seattle Parks has reconvened its “Pickleball Advisory Committee”, this time to discuss the development of new dedicated pickleball facilities at Magnuson Park and possibly at Georgetown Playfield.
Just to be clear: there is no reason to expect this Pickleball Advisory Committee to be involved in any other pickleball matter besides the development of one dedicated pickleball facility north of the ship canal and one south of the ship canal.
What new dedicated pickleball facilities?
Seattle Parks’ 2021-2022 Outdoor Pickleball Study recommended the creation of new larger-scale dedicated pickleball facilities, one in the north and one in the south of the city. Seattle Parks did get some very partial funding for this from the Seattle Parks District.
When would these new pickleball facilities become available?
Certainly before hell freezes over. Certainly not before 2026.
Is the Pickleball Advisory Committee going to design the new pickleball facilities?
No. Seattle Parks’ planning department will design the new facilities, most likely with the help of some consultants. Seattle Parks will run several iterations of its design through the advisory committee for feedback. The committee is there to provide a voice representing pickleball players. It does not have any authority.
How many people are part of this Pickleball Advisory Committee?
The committee is comprised of twelve people from the community and five Seattle Parks employees. We wouldn’t be surprised to see some consultants attend the committee meetings at some point.
How many of the twelve people from the community are primarily pickleball players?
Three. Two of them represent the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association. The third one is a Seattle pickleball player who has played at a lot of different pickleball facilities across the country and knows from experience what makes a good facility.
Three out of twelve?! Who else is part of the committee?
The information below is not guaranteed to be 100% correct, but it should be close enough to give you a good feel for the composition of the rest of the committee.
- One person plays both pickleball and tennis regularly in Seattle. This person has played at a lot of different pickleball facilities across the country as well.
- One person is a tennis player who is part of the Amy Yee Tennis Center Advisory Council
- One person is a tennis player who is part of the Amy Yee Tennis Foundation.
- One person is the founder of Tennis Center Sand Point and also represents Magnuson Parks business owners.
- One person has experience as a tennis director at a California resort that includes pickleball programs.
- One person represents Magnuson residents.
- There is one spot reserved for someone representing Georgetown residents and that spot seems to be vacant.
- One person is from Sports in School whose mission is to improve the lives of under resourced youth by increasing access and opportunities to sports in their schools.
- One person is from the Seattle Public Schools facilities department.