A new development late today in the city’s plan to set up six pickleball courts on what used to be tennis courts in Lincoln Park. Previously, Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold had asked Seattle Parks Superintendent AP Diaz last Friday to host a community meeting about the plan, which has drawn opposition from people worried the noise will harm birds and. other wildlife. Early this afternoon, Councilmember Herbold told us she had not yet heard back from Diaz. Then late this afternoon, Parks sent an email to people who had contacted the department about the plan – sent to both supporters and opponents, judging by those who received it and forwarded it to us. Here’s what it says:

Dear community members,

Over the past few weeks, we have heard from many community members about resurfacing the court in Lincoln Park to enable pickleball play. Some comments expressed concern about noise, lack of a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) analysis, assertions of tree removal and disruption to wildlife, while other comments expressed support for the project and excitement for adding more recreational opportunities in West Seattle.

Please be assured that Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) is working hard to cultivate a park system that balances our varying points of view, which includes our mission to build healthy people, a thriving environment and vibrant community throughout the entire Seattle city park system.

At this time, we can respond to some of these concerns:

–SPR reiterates there is no tree removal being done to support this project. Consistent with other court resurfacing projects, SPR is not conducting a SEPA analysis as the existing court is being repurposed with already defined recreational uses.

–SPR will not pursue lighting at this time.

–We will be pausing project construction for two weeks to talk with experts on Seattle’s bird populations on how we can properly study the potential impact pickleball noise may have on wildlife. We welcome this dialogue and will share our plans more widely after that discussion as we strive to find a collective and beneficial approach to the stewardship and management of our parkland.

Thank you for your commitments to our park system. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about this project:
https://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/projects/lincoln-park-tennis-court-conversion.

We also noticed earlier this afternoon that the Parks webpage had been updated, timestamped yesterday, with the schematic plan shown above, mapping the planned courts’ location in the park and the route construction trucks would take to get there.

BACKSTORY: We’ve been reporting on all this since August, when a reader tipped us that the then-imminent (currently on hold until next year) resurfacing of Solstice Park‘s tennis courts would include restriping three for pickleball. Parks then announced a change of plan in September, dropping the Solstice restriping plan and pursuing the Lincoln Park plan. Wildlife advocates subsequently launched a petition drive and opposition campaign. Parks, meantime, launched work at the site more than a week ago, putting up signage and fencing, but with today’s announcement, that’s apparently on hold.

(Sign installed at project site in Lincoln Park last Monday)

In her weekly newsletter, circulated tonight, our area’s City Councilmember Lisa Herbold comments publicly for the first time on the Lincoln Park pickleball-court project. She notes receiving an “overwhelming” amount of emails from project opponents, and says she sent Parks and Recreation Superintendent AP Diaz a letter today, with questions as well as a request for a public meeting. Here’s the full text of her letter:

Dear Superintendent Diaz,

I am writing today about the installation of the pickleball court at Lincoln Court.  I have shared with hundreds of constituents the Seattle Parks and Recreation position that impacts to wildlife will not increase and may be reduced as relates to emissions.  I have told my constituents, as you have:

The…”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.”

Similarly, the Associated Recreational Council (ARC) wrote: 

“Lincoln Park was considered as a potential location for dedicated courts through work with a consultant and community engagement in SPR’s 2020-2021 Outdoor Pickleball Plan. The plan offsets an additional active use to Lincoln Park by relocating the SPR grounds storage facility to the crew headquarter location. This will remove trucks, along with their emissions and traffic, driving in and out of this actively used part of the park.”

The public response I have received has been overwhelming.  I have received about 1,300 emails strenuously objecting to this characterization of this installation as not having wildlife impacts.   

I have also received several requests for “an official SPR plan or study.” Seattle Parks and Recreation, similarly to the ARC, has referred to this document, saying:  “Through work with a consultant and community engagement, Lincoln Park was considered as a potential location for dedicated courts in SPR’s 2020-2021 Outdoor Pickleball Plan.”   Yet, my quick perusal of the documents linked within the above link suggests that Lincoln Park as a location was first discussed at the May 25, 2022 open house. It appears that this was a citywide meeting.  Lincoln Park appears to have been identified in a “break out session.  I would like to know how many people were in attendance in the Southwest breakout session. Is there a specific “Lincoln Plan” that informed the discussion in the breakout session?  Or was Lincoln Park identified in more of a “spit-balling”  exercise?  No one denies that Lincoln Park was put on a list, but no one seems to understand how it got on the list.

I understand the analysis and position that no SEPA analysis is needed.  But meeting with community members who are pleading to be heard is the least we can do.  I have joined Bird Connect on birding tours in Lincoln Park.  I appreciate how vulnerable wildlife is there.  Birds Connect Seattle reports that:

“More than 160 species of birds have been reported at Lincoln Park. That’s approximately 64% of all bird species that occur in Seattle from a park that represents just 0.25% of our land area.”

A constituent also reports that “ sustained, repetitive noise will disrupt this well-established ecosystem function by marginalizing wildlife and pushing them further out to areas that don’t have as much available prey, as well as pushing prey species out.”  Why is it that we do not believe that this will occur?

I have also read the concern the plan in in contravention to the Public Involvement Policy for Parks Planning Processes and for Proposals to Acquire Property, Initiate Funded Capital Projects, or Make Changes to a Park or Facility.  Can you comment whether you believe that to be the case?  Some may remember that this policy was updated in 2022 on the request of former City Councilmember Nick Licata in response to a public outcry related to another Praks project, the Queen Anne Bowl.

Please consider hosting a meeting to hear the concerns.  If you do, I will join you.   I look forward to your response, as well as answers to these questions:

-How many people were in attendance in the Southwest breakout session?
-Is there a specific “Lincoln Plan” that informed the discussion in the breakout session?
-Why is it that we do not believe that sustained, repetitive work will not impact wildlife (are there studies)?
-Is DPR proceeding in a way that is consistent with the Parks Involvement Policy linked above?
-Will DPD meet with the public to discuss the plan?

Thank you for your kind consideration of my request and questions.  Thank you as well for all you do to support our precious parks system and all of us who use them.

Best,

Lisa Herbold
District 1 Councilmember, Public Safety and Human Services Committee Chair

We’ll be checking next week to see how Parks responds.

Opponents of Seattle Parks‘ plan to convert former Lincoln Park tennis courts into six pickleball courts gathered today for what you might call a pre-protest. 16 people met up by the park’s main lot, some with signs, before standing along Fauntleroy Way to wave them.

They were strategizing for what they hope will be a sizable protest at the park at 11 am next Saturday (October 21st). They say they’re not opposed to pickleball, just opposed to this location for courts. Their flyers to publicize the upcoming protest are headlined “We Love Pickleball! But Not at the Expense of Seattle’s Biodiversity and Human Respite.”

The biodiversity reference is in relation to birds in the park, who court-conversion opponents fear will be chased away by the loudness of pickleball and by court lighting (which may or may not be installed following the conversion, Parks has told us). Opposition organizer Kersti Muul says she has an appointment to meet with the City Attorney’s Office to discuss her contention that the court conversion is not exempt from State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review; the city says it is because pickleball is not a change in use from the site’s previous status as tennis courts. This is a photo texted by a reader, showing Parks already has cleared the ex-courts of materials that had been stored there:

The conversion plan announced a month ago surprised people because local pickleball players were expecting Parks to make good on a promise to add pickleball striping to three of the six tennis courts at nearby Solstice Park when it’s resurfaced (which was supposed to have happened by now but is on hold until next year because of weather, Parks told us). Parks says it scrapped Solstice striping and came up with the Lincoln Park plan because both tennis and pickleball players preferred separate facilities.

(WSB photo, Lincoln Park’s former tennis-court site)

Another Seattle Parks note: When the plan to convert former tennis courts in Lincoln Park to 6 pickleball courts was quietly announced three and a half weeks ago, the city promised project information online. It’s finally added a page (thanks for the tips) – see it here. The page answers one major question some opponents of the plan have had – where Parks found the money for the court conversion. The $140,000 is attributed to the Associated Recreation Council, an independent nonprofit that has long supported Parks programs. It has its own staff and a volunteer Board of Directors. You can see the ARC’s financial documents here; its annual reports (newest one is from 2021) list hundreds of individual and organizational donors. The pickleball-project page on Parks’ site, meantime, says the plan for a “new” dedicated pickleball facility – which a city study suggests would be at Hiawatha – is “long term,” while this kind of conversion is “mid-term.” Parks says this will be built by the end of the year.