Sequim parks in tight spot for new pickleball courts

Published 12:01 am Sunday, January 25, 2015

SEQUIM — Faced with pleas to provide more permanent pickleball courts, Sequim parks and recreation officials look at their master plan and see two problems:

■ Places to pave for the 20-foot-by-44-foot courts.

■ Money to build them.

The answer to the first, said Joseph Irvin, city special projects manager, is at Carrie Blake Park.

“They [Sequim Picklers] requested a couple of courts at every single park,” he said in late December.

“It would take a lot of land and finances to make it happen.

“Carrie Blake Park would be a good location to accommodate [asphalt or concrete] pickleball courts along with tennis.”

In response to the Picklers’ well-organized campaign, the city could move forward its 2019-20 target date for pickleball courts by two or three years, he said.

The more pressing woe is money, with a $2.8 million shortfall to pay for capital improvements proposed in the draft master plan.

As for the Picklers’ contention that elders have demographic clout, as opposed to children, in the area served by Sequim parks, Irvin said:

“It’s been a long time — at least a decade — since we replaced an entire playground’s equipment,” although the city has repaired or replaced hazardous and worn-out pieces.

People also favor a new facility for children, he said.

“We have had quite a bit of [positive] response to add a playground near the location of the band shell, which would be a new one,” he noted.

The master plan in any case still will be only a plan and subject to change, Irvin said.

A public hearing on the draft is set for the Sequim City Council meeting that starts at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, at the Sequim Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St.

Next will come draft landscaping plans for Carrie Blake Park and the Sequim Water Reuse Demonstration Park.

Call Irvin at 360-683-4908 for details.