Seattle Parks and Recreation's (SPR) plans to repurpose a former tennis court, that became a storage area for more than 10 years, as new Pickleball courts has drawn the ire of community activists.

On Saturday the latest protest against the plan took place with around 40 people gathered on the proposed site, some carrying protest signs to hear Denise Dahn of the Seattle Nature Alliance speak.

Dahn said, "When we spend time in nature and with all other living things it not only nourishes us, but it nourishes the entire community. Because we open our hearts and love nature, we love each other."

The opponents object to the noise, and impacts on the environment, wildlife and the parking they believe the new courts will have. SPR maintains that the demand for more recreation facilities has grown, and Pickleball specifically has been at the top of their list.

The opponents who in recent days have taken to blocking the work at the site, in the north central part of the park, say that SPR did not file an Environmental Impact Statement but SPR said this is only a remodel of an existing facility and under City of Seattle Code, such a statement is not needed. 

But in the past couple of weeks, the debate both for and against has brewed on social media.

Kersti Muul, Urban Conservation & Wildlife Biologist/Specialist said in a Birds Connect Seattle Action Alert  that "Pickleball is notoriously loud and Seattle Parks and Recreation is considering lighting the courts after dark. 

Owls and hawks use this area for nesting and fledgling. A wide-open meadow abutting the proposed courts provides prey for all of these competing predators. The introduction of noise and light will negatively impact them.

Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) has not provided an opportunity for the public to comment on the decision to add pickleball courts at this location nor have they evaluated the potential environmental impacts."

Rachel Schulkin with SPR responded to questions about the issue.

"We are always looking for ways to add additional recreation amenities (or renovate existing amenities)  to our parkland. Amenities are what give us access to our city’s bounty of beautiful parkland and enable the public to be physically active and receive the benefits of open space, community, and nature. When we do broad community outreach around what people want Seattle Parks and Recreation to focus on, adding additional amenities (dog parks, pickleball courts, pools, trails, etc.) always comes up. Our city has grown, and we are doing our best to keep up with the growth in park use demands. We do that in balance with the natural environment.

Increasing pickleball access has been a constant request to the department for the past five years, and we are doing our best to meet that demand. We currently have 80 courts (most dual stripped tennis and pickleball, around 8 are solely for pickleball), with almost all 25 community centers offering pickleball as well.

Regarding wildlife:

Since the courts were decommissioned, this site has been used as a storage facility for the maintenance crews that service all West Seattle's parks. Meaning that several times a day, vehicles and large trucks are pulling into this site to load and unload equipment and materials. When this site becomes a pickleball court, SPR will consolidate our maintenance facilities into one location in a different part of Lincoln Park.  In our view, any disturbance to wildlife the pickleball court will bring will be equivalent, and potentially lessened as we are removing vehicle emissions from this location.  

While there is no hard and fast rule, projects that bring a new use to a park or park-owned space could trigger a parking study. A maintenance project like replacing a play area or resurfacing an old court do not."

What emerges from the debate is that those opposed feel as if they were denied a voice and that SPR is ignoring their perspective. In fact West Seattleite Jeff Hogan said he was told by an SPR employee, "We're going to do this and there's nothing you can do to stop it." 

For some, this appears to be a pattern of mis-communication. West Seattle resident Hallidie Haid has written to SPR and the Mayor about the now long delayed restoration of the Lincoln Park South play area. The sign on the site reads "This project has experienced some unforeseen delays; however, construction documents are in progress. We anticipate the bid advertisement in summer 2022, with construction starting in fall 2022." The SPR web page on this project states "We have learned the play equipment will be available to ship in March 2024. As such, we will negotiate a start date with the contractor this fall will likely start in winter 2023/2024 to align with the availability of the play equipment."

In the meantime SPR has been moving on the Pickleball courts project with much greater speed. One protester asked, "What is the Pickleball emergency here?" 

SPR has provided no documentation as to demand for the installation of new dedicated courts and thus far has chosen not to appear on television news reports on the controversy but instead has responded to email requests for comment.

Kelli Bernhard who lives nearby said, "I'm opposed to this because I feel this should stay a natural habitat. I think we have a lot of endangered species here....I want the public to be able to use this beautiful park. It doesn't need more noises. I love that we have kids here playing soccer, baseball, and people coming here to hang out. But we don't need a pickleball court. I play pickleball. I play at High point, I play at the YMCA. I just feel there are other places that could use a court. As it is parking is difficult here and I just don't think the noise and the nuisance of it doesn't need to be here when there is already infrastructure around Seattle for it."