Evanston tennis players who assembled at the Civic Center Wednesday evening said they preferred pickleball courts to be separate from tennis courts, and many, but not all, were interested in the possibility of building brand-new pickleball courts at Mason Park.
For almost a year, the Evanston Parks and Recreation Department has been looking into where it can add pickleball courts as demand rises for the sport. The department held meetings with neighbors living near potential sites throughout August and September. Parks and Recreation Director Audrey Thompson met with pickleball players on Monday evening and with tennis players on Wednesday.
During the latter meeting, Thompson reviewed some options for double-striping existing tennis courts for pickleball, and talked about some possibilities for building dedicated pickleball courts, which are smaller than tennis courts. Notably, her department is considering converting a Chandler-Newberger Center basketball court into a pickleball court. Thompson mentioned that, during Monday’s meeting, a Parks and Recreation Board member suggested converting the court at James Park, at Dodge Avenue and Mulford Street – an option that wasn’t well-received at Wednesday’s meeting.
Thompson plans to hold a joint meeting with representatives from both groups at 6 p.m. Monday, but on Wednesday didn’t say where it would be held.
Existing tennis courts
In her presentation, Thompson said that Parks and Rec looked at four sites – Ackerman Park, Cartwright Park, Mason Park and Burnham Shores – to see where tennis courts could be at least partially re-striped to allow both tennis and pickleball. Staff weighed several factors, including access to restrooms, parking and proximity to residences.
With Ackerman Park, 2500 Central St., the feedback she reported from neighbors was that it would be a good location because it has restrooms, and adding pickleball courts could bring more customers to the Central Street corridor. There was also the fact that the tennis courts were already “not in the best shape,” and re-striping them for pickleball would have the benefit of resurfacing them. But there were also concerns that the courts would worsen the traffic situation, and that noise mitigation – pickleball is much louder than tennis – wouldn’t be enough.
With Cartwright Park, at Prospect Street and Grant Avenue, renovations planned for next year would simplify putting in pickleball courts, though Thompson cautioned attendees that the 2025 date may be pushed back. She also said the lack of restrooms, sidewalks and adequate lighting are major drawbacks. Sound mitigation and parking concerns at Cartwright came up as well.
With Burnham Shores, at Lake Shore Boulevard and Hamilton Street, proximity to homes is less an issue than with the other three, and there are bathrooms on site, but the courts have been recently resurfaced, and wind from the lake is a concern as pickle balls are rather light, weighing only around 8 ounces.
Mason Park, near Church Street and Florence Avenue, was a mixed bag. There are restrooms and parking is less of a concern, but inadequate lighting. It was also the only one of the four where there was room to add courts. Thompson said that Parks and Rec is considering two scenarios: either building a new tennis court on vacant land a little farther north and converting existing tennis courts into pickleball courts, or keeping tennis courts and building new pickleball courts farther north instead.
Both options had positives and negatives. The former would leave Mason Park with eight pickleball courts, enough for a tournament, but also leave it with one less tennis court. The latter would preserve the tennis court status quo but only allow for six pickleball courts.
New courts
Parks and Rec is also considering a fifth option – converting the underutilized Chandler basketball court into a pickleball court. And, later during the meeting, Thompson mentioned another possibility – converting two out of four tennis courts into eight pickleball courts.
Finally, she mentioned that, during Monday’s meeting, pickleball players proposed putting a court at James Park. The park currently has six tennis courts, which could be either converted or restriped into as many as 24 pickleball courts.
Thompson said that her department hopes to put in eight new courts overall, whether it’s at one site or across two sites, because it would generate the most revenue while also ensuring that no community gets “overburdened” with too many pickleball courts.
Regina Wootton was one of several tennis players who said they would prefer dedicated pickleball courts over restriping, saying that the pickleball lines throw off the game, especially when they’re trying to call a serve.
“I just want to see dedicated pickleball courts and remove the double-striping,” she said.
Sara Marberry, who said she plays both tennis and pickleball, said that, while the issue of noise was legitimate in the early days of the sport, when players used wooden paddles, the more modern paddles use a combination of materials.
“I’m not saying it’s not noisy, but it’s different. It’s not that clickety-clack,” she said.
In the ensuing discussion, several spoke in favor of one of the Mason Park options, and there was general leeriness around James Park.
Thompson said she was hopeful that Parks and Rec would arrive at a good plan.
“I don’t like hearing that people have to go to other places to play pickleball,” she said “I do know that we’re behind other communities, but I say we’re going to learn from the mistakes we made and make a better pickleball center somewhere.”
Evanston tennis players sound off on pickleball court expansion is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.