SF Rec & Park Announcement about  Presidio Wall Pickleball Court Closure

———- FULL TEXT OF RPD EMAIL RESPONSE ANNOUNCEMENT – Jan 14, 2024  ——————————–

Thank you for your email, we also shared it with the Pickleball Working Group. On January 9, we met with the Pickleball Working Group to re-review the agreement from last year, when we temporarily expanded pickleball play at Presidio Wall, pending the opening of the new Larsen Pickleball Court. Thank you for your patience as the Department found ways to address the concerns of park patrons, neighbors, pickleball, and the tennis community at Presidio Wall. We have some updates to share.

Background 

The Department has worked to increase pickleball spaces while balancing other recreational sports in the City, but demand for pickleball courts still exceeds supply. In 2018, the Department began soliciting guidance from a community-led pickleball working group to better collaborate and communicate changes in our park system.

In a matter of six years, at the end of 2023, the Department has 63 outdoor pickleball courts and 24 indoor pickleball facilities, including some recreation centers. Of those, 22 are dedicated courts, and 5 of the overall sites have dedicated pickleball hours.

On January 19, 2023, the Recreation and Park Commission approved a plan to convert Larsen Playground into eight dedicated pickleball courts. In addition, the Commission directed the Department to pause any further conversion of sports courts to dedicated pickleball courts. This allowed the Department to thoughtfully identify underutilized public spaces that can support future dedicated pickleball complexes in the City.

Current Status 

Construction of the Larsen Pickleball Courts in the Sunset District commenced in August 2023, the project cost approximately $355,000 and was funded by 2016’s Proposition B for deferred maintenance in our parks. The much-anticipated public Larsen Pickleball Courts opened for play on December 18, 2023.

The demand for pickleball courts continues to grow, and we continue to look for ways to support new opportunities.

As a Department, we want to ensure our park spaces are accessible and vibrant recreational spaces for everyone, but we also want to be good neighbors. As pickleball exploded throughout the city, the fundamental impacts of this sport became apparent for the Department to address and consider for future locations. (i.e., large crowds due to open play format, noise, court conflict amongst different recreational users, etc.)

Next Steps 

The Department is committed to continue supporting pickleball in our citywide system over the next year in the following ways:

Stern Grove: Stern Grove court resurfacing construction work is expected to start in early 2024, with completion in late Spring/early Summer 2024. It will be multi-lined for pickleball inside the tennis courts. This will allow a tennis court to be booked either as a single tennis court or as two pickleball courts.

Presidio Wall: We temporarily expanded hours for pickleball play last year to allow more access as Larsen Pickleball Courts were constructed. Presidio Wall Park is a vibrant and intimate neighborhood park for everyone. We want to ensure it remains a good recreation balance of the diverse visitors from our pickleball and tennis players, youth baseball, youth tennis players, birthday parties, and children with families that visit each day.

Over the last six years, Pickleball has attracted large crowds to this neighborhood park, which has included impacts such as noise, congestion, access to the multiline recreational play on courts, and traffic. The goal was for the eight new dedicated Larsen Pickleball Courts on the City’s west side to spread the availability of pickleball to other parks. This was explained to the Pickleball Working Group early on and was a reminder that expansion at Presidio Wall was temporary pending the opening of Larsen.

As Larsen has opened, the Department will be taking the following steps in the next few months of 2024:

    • Asking the pickleball community to remove their unpermitted rolling nets from courts 3 & 4 by January 19, 2024. 
    • Removal of pickleball lines on courts 3 & 4, which face W Pacific Ave during Winter/Spring 2024, weather dependent. This is due to the extensive use of those courts for pickleball during hours not designated for pickleball. The original temporary expansion was supposed to be limited to certain hours on Saturday (not Sunday) and certain weekdays. However, use has expanded beyond what was originally contemplated even with the temporary expansion.

Exploring New Sites 

 

Dedicated Sites: The Department continues to work with our Capital and Planning division to look at underutilized public spaces that can support future dedicated pickleball complexes in the City. The Department intends to launch an RFP (Request For Proposal) in 2024 for nonprofits or operators to convert these sites into pickleball courts and operate them. Acquisition of new spaces, securing significant funding, and planning design for such opportunities will take time.

 

Dual Use Sites: The Department continues to add pickleball lines to tennis courts when renovated. However, this is a slow process. The Department proposes expanding to multi-lining additional pickleball courts (either tennis or volleyball courts). The Department thoughtfully identified sports courts in our system that could be multi-lined for pickleball. This would not be a full conversion into dedicated pickleball courts, but it does allow for more parks to provide pickleball opportunities.

The Department will continue to work with the Pickleball Working Group to identify new locations and consider past priorities with new additions:

    • Dedicated pickleball courts with fencing wrapped around
    • Location has ample parking
    • Location has a restroom
    • Noise impact (new) 
    • Request from neighbors for dual-lined pickleball courts (new) 
    • Sport courts that are near existing recreation centers or clubhouses (new) 

Possible locations the Department is considering and shared with the Pickleball Working Group are:

    • Moscone (tennis courts near the Marina Library)
    • Hamilton
    • Alta Plaza
    • Minnie Lovie
    • Rossi’s volleyball court

New Reservation System; Managing Lessons on Courts 

In Spring 2024, the Department will launch a new reservation system. Across the City, people will have improved access to make quick and easy reservations, while also providing the Department a better understanding of usage impacts on our parks.  One challenge from the previous reservation system was that some individuals were able to set up multiple accounts, allowing for multiple bookings and no space for others. In some communities, unlicensed tennis pros were blocking multiple courts as well. In addition, the prior system did not allow for efficient booking of pickleball courts and had no system for managing the options to offer lessons at courts at dedicated hours. This impacted fair and equal access to the public.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. For any further information, please visit our websites:

RPD Tennis and Pickleball Reservation Page

https://sfrecpark.org/1584/Pickleball

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