Hello City Council Members,

On behalf of the pickleball community, Im sending this message in advance of the PRC meeting tonight as background for the discussion about pickleball court capacity. Many thanks to the P&R staff and Commission for taking the time over the last year to address the large and growing interest in pickleball (PB) in Menlo Park.

In reviewing the staff report, it appears there are no proposals to increase PB court capacity in the near term. Unfortunately that is the most pressing need of the PB community and has been the consistent request for over a year now. We welcome additional new court capacity longer term at Nealon or Burgess park, but in the near term we feel the best way to meet the needs of the community is to dual stripe Nealon Court #4 for shared use between the PB and tennis communities.

As some of you may know, the PB community has been tracking court usage at Nealon Park since September 1st. Below is a summary from this analysis:

Since September 1st we have tracked over 3,700 player-hours of Pickleball and Tennis at Nealon Park:

1. There is need for additional Pickleball court capacity at Nealon
2. AVERAGE of 12 Pickleball users per hour play, in use ALL HOURS, 8AM-10PM
3. More than 90% of the time, at least one tennis court is unused
4. The USTA allows striping/painting Pickleball lines on Tennis courts
5. Pickleball users: 1,200 hours per week; Tennis: 120 hours/week/court
6. Tennis has open courts EXCEPT ~20% full use 10AM-12PM and 5PM-8PM
7. Full summary posted here.

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Also, if you havent seen the detailed report that Nate Gardner prepared and shared earlier, it provides helpful background information on a number of relevant topics:

* Why Kelly Park isnt a good option for the PB community
* Finding the right balance of court capacity between PB and tennis across the 15 tennis courts citywide and why a central location (Nealon & Burgess Parks) is critical for the drop-in style of play for PB, which is different from tennis.
* Recommendations for dual-marking courts for sharing between PB and tennis
* Suggestions for longer term new courts at Burgess Park
* Accomodating the needs of the Hillview tennis team

Cheers, Brian
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Brian Kissel
brian.kissel@gmail.com
Mobile: 650.397.1414

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