Pickleball Courts

City staff frequently hear from pickleball advocates about the need for additional pickleball courts within the City. As the sport’s popularity has increased, so, too, has crowding on existing courts.

As stewards of taxpayer money with limited staff and resources, the City always has to juggle the competing desires of the community when planning upcoming projects. The addition of two new pickleball courts at Wertman Park is a positive first step to answering the demand for more pickleball in Longmont, but we understand it does not completely fulfill the need. The City is also reviewing potential opportunities to create additional pickleball courts on existing surfaces as staff time and budgetary resources allow.

A tournament-style pickleball complex is something that could be located within one of our larger community parks so that it could accommodate lighting, parking, etc. The City does not currently have any plans for adding new community parks, but staff is evaluating which amenities will be needed at these parks in the future and pickleball courts are on the list of potential additions.

Painting lines on tennis courts disqualifies those courts from participating in official USTA tennis tournaments. Tennis courts that host USTA sanctioned tournaments are not allowed to have other lines on them. So, when pickleball players paint lines on existing courts, the City has to expend staff time and city funds to restore those courts. Pratt Park has USTA dedicated tennis courts and is therefore not an option for pickleball court lines. However, we see potential opportunities to provide additional courts at Clark Centennial Park and Carr Park – utilizing the in-line hockey rinks as multi-use – as staff time and resources allow to move the project forward.

Pickleball players, teams, and advocacy groups often come to the City offering to bring funds. While we always hate to turn down money for projects that add value to our community, construction funding is not the only resource necessary to build new facilities. New, unplanned-for projects require that City staff be reassigned from an existing project, often in a neighborhood that has been waiting years for their park or renewal, to the new pickleball project. While we encourage pickleball enthusiasts to continue advocating for pickleball, we also ask that they understand that this is a slow process and that there are multiple uses desired by the public.

One of the most effective ways for the community to bring attention to new recreational activities or facilities is by speaking at a Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) meeting. The PRAB makes policy recommendations to the City Council, such as which projects to prioritize. While advocating before PRAB does not assure the project gets completed, it does get community sentiment into the official public record.