Jacksonville Review – July 2023 issue

After reading the recent article from Dave Doi in the Jacksonville Review, we, the neighbors of Pheasant Meadow, would like to share our perspective on the pickleball courts.

Dave Doi asks what reason the city has to reduce the courts. Here are six:

Protocol. Pheasant Meadow Park is a designated neighborhood city park. The city is required to notify neighbors of any change of use for a neighborhood city park. This process was not followed before striping the pickleball courts.

Parking. The surrounding neighborhood streets and parking were not designed for this level of traffic and congestion. During pickleball events, there are often 15-20 cars parked around the court, creating a bottleneck at the main entrance to the neighborhood. Neighbors have experienced cars parked on their property or blocking driveways.

Safety. The increased traffic has created safety concerns for children trying to utilize the park area. We have witnessed close calls with small children as a direct result of inappropriately parked cars and decreased visibility.

Noise. Pickleball is much louder and higher pitched than tennis and there are four times the balls popping. Courts much farther from residential neighborhoods have been shut down in cities around the US for this alone.

Intimidating tennis players. Pickleball players frequently claim they rarely see tennis players on the court. Those of us who frequent the park on a more varied schedule can attest we see tennis players nearly every day. Many neighbors, our children, and other community members have experienced pickleball players setting up their courts while we are still playing tennis. This behavior is inappropriate, considering court reservations are not allowed.

Neighbor agreement. In 2021, we canvassed the neighborhood within a block and a half of the tennis court and obtained 28 signatures out of 30 houses visited in support of reducing the pickleball courts from four to two, which is the national standard.

Since 2021, we have been “going through the appropriate channels” for over two years now, despite the fact that the pickleball players did not originally follow proper protocols before striping the courts.

We are very concerned that our attempts to compromise have been shut down and have led to online defamation. Are we not a community that cares for each other, even when opinions diverge? We believe this dismissive, entitled attitude is why this situation has escalated.

We appreciate the city staff and city council members who have made attempts to understand both sides of the issue. We believe the recommendation to reduce the courts from four to two and limit days/hours is a reasonable compromise. We also wholeheartedly support attempts to bring more pickleball to Jacksonville in locations where it will be less disruptive.

While the current situation at the Pheasant Meadow Park is untenable, the neighborhood values community and healthy lifestyles—therefore, we genuinely want to welcome our fellow community members to enjoy the court. After all, Pheasant Meadow Park is a place where our families pick up tennis racquets and pickleball paddles to enjoy the magic of Jacksonville, too.

Respectfully,

Your Pheasant Meadow Neighbors