Now that we have a mayor who is not afraid of saying that “We need more pickleball courts. It’s as simple as that,“ will Seattle develop a meaningful, long-term, actionable plan to provide adequate pickleball facilities? There are positive signs that Seattle Parks, under the leadership of its new Superintendent, is suddenly moving in the right direction: We have two new courts in Belltown (unfortunately, not-regulation size); Seattle Parks is planning to create dedicated pickleball courts at Lincoln Park in West Seattle by the end of the year; Rumor has it that Seattle Parks is actually in the early stages of planning a new facility at Magnuson Park.
But before we get complacent, let’s take a look at previous plans. In 2017, Seattle’s “Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Plan” failed to recognize the importance of planning the development of pickleball facilities. The 2020 “Strategic Plan” only paid lip service to pickleball. The 2019 and 2021 “Pickleball Studies” did not include an effective pickleball development plan either.
Have we really turned a corner? Will it be different this time? Will Seattle Parks develop a meaningful, long-term, actionable plan to accommodate pickleball?
2017 Failing to Plan
In Spring of 2017, Seattle Parks released a draft of its Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Plan for public comment. Absent in that draft, was any planning for outdoor pickleball. The video below shows the verbal feedback of some of the pickleball players who attended the public hearing about that plan.
After this entertaining public hearing, Seattle Parks modified its plan slightly. The final version includes a “pickleball pilot project (up to 10 sites) citywide” in Appendix D, which lists “discretionary capital projects that may be implemented during the 2017-2023 timeframe when funding becomes available, and depending on priorities at the time.” A pilot project including seven sites was already in the works at the time. So, the only thing new in the final plan was the possibility — not the intention — of adding three more pickleball locations over the next six years to the seven locations already being developed.
2019 Recommending vs. Planning
Under pressure from the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association, Seattle Parks released its Pickleball Pilot Study Report in August 2019. This study did not include a plan. Instead, it included what it called “recommendations” that could easily be ignored.
Case in point: The 2019 Pickleball Pilot Study Report actually recommended that the four tennis courts across the street from the Rainier Community Center be lined for pickleball. This made perfect sense since the Rainier Community Center’s six indoor pickleball courts had a long tradition of hosting Seattle’s largest and most diverse community of indoor pickleball players. When this community center suddenly closed because of the pandemic and after that for a long stretch of construction, this pickleball community could have made good use of outdoor tennis courts a short walk away from the center. Yet, Seattle Parks refused to follow up on its own recommendations. It rejected repeated calls for adding pickleball lines to these tennis courts, including a 2021 petition that garnered over 800 signatures.
2018-2019-2020 Failing to Plan Strategically
In 2018, Seattle Parks was getting ready to revise its Strategic Plan. It asked people to think “big about what our city might need in the next 12-13 years and how to establish a strategic direction that drives SPR’s work toward meeting those needs“. It ran an expansive outreach effort that included surveys, extensive social media outreach, and of course public meetings.
Pickleball players submitted thousands of comments and suggestions reflecting many big ideas. Seattle Parks reported them in 2020 in the final version of its Strategic Plan as:
2021-2022: Planning to Study
Under pressure from the pickleball community, Seattle Parks went back to the drawing board in 2021, to develop a new outdoor pickleball study that would specify how to expand outdoor pickleball throughout the city. The study suggested a three-prong approach:
- Short-term: Keep painting pickleball court lines (stripes) on existing tennis courts
- Mid-term: Convert long-neglected tennis courts to dedicated pickleball courts
- Long-term: Construct new dedicated pickleball courts
So where is the plan to match? Who is going to do what, where, when? Once again, there is no plan. The study provides five maps indicating projects that Seattle Parks COULD consider undertaking if it felt so inclined.
Case in point: The Southeast map indicates that the Fred Hutchinson Playground should be “considered for conversion with upcoming renovation.” In other words, this pickleball study is recommending that Seattle Parks study the possibility of converting these tennis courts into dedicated pickleball courts. There is no plan to convert. There is only a recommendation to study the possibility of converting.
Now, two years later, the planning for the Fred Hutchinson Playground Renovation has started unbeknownst to the pickleball community. Converting its two long-neglected tennis courts to dedicated pickleball courts is no longer a priority.
2022: Failing to Budget
In 2022, Seattle was already home to about as many pickleball players as tennis players and Seattle Parks was acutely aware that it was facing a pickleball explosion. At that time, Seattle Parks owned about 100 dedicated tennis courts and less than a handful of dedicated pickleball courts.
Given this situation, you would think that Seattle Parks would make a reasonable effort to update its pickleball infrastructure with the long-term goal to eventually bring it up to par with its tennis infrastructure. Yet, that year, Seattle Parks requested and obtained from the Parks District $10 million to renovate the Amy Yee tennis Center over the next 6 years, but it only requested $1.6 million to build one new dedicated pickleball facility over the same 6 years.
2024: Planning For a Fad While Broke
Do you remember the 2017 “Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Plan” mentioned at the top? It is being updated this and next year to reflect Seattle Parks’ current vision for the future.
Planning While Broke
However, Seattle Parks already announced (here and here) that it will not have any money to implement any significant new projects that could be included in this new plan. Money for new projects comes from the Parks District, which already allocated all available funds until 2028.
Planning For a Fad
In May and June 2023, some pickleball players participated in preliminary in-person workshops about the plan. They met the person in charge of this update who allegedly said that pickleball was a fad and therefore it did not make sense for Seattle Parks to spend much effort on developing pickleball courts.
Pickleball Keeps Growing
The number of pickleball players keeps growing quickly. Even Seattle Parks now calls it a pickleball explosion.
A recent survey estimates that the number of pickleball players in King County in 2022 was slightly lower than the number of tennis players.
Given the current growth rate of pickleball players, it is perfectly reasonable to expect that Seattle will have about twice as many pickleball players as tennis players five years from now. Yet, Seattle Parks does not have the beginning of a plan to accommodate this growth.
Will It Be Different This Time?
Bruce Harrell, our new mayor, has made it clear that he wants to see more pickleball courts. AP Diaz, the new Parks Superintendent appears to be on board with the idea and Seattle Parks suddenly seems to be serious about creating new dedicated pickleball courts.
Will Seattle Parks create a few dedicated pickleball courts to please the mayor and call it quits. Will it keep failing to plan? Or will it develop a meaningful, long-term, actionable plan and stick to it?
Cast Your Pickle
What do you think will happen?