Possible New Courts in the Eugene/Springfield Area

The Emerald Valley Pickleball Club’s Board of Directors is very active in trying to increase the number pickleball courts and improve the quality of existing courts in the greater Eugene-Springfield area. Virtually every place where you can play pickleball now has been a result of the Club advocating for those courts. And we are working continuously with local government staff, school district staff, elected officials (at the local, county, and state level) and private organizations to get additional facilities.  

This page describes the places where we are currently working to get new facilities, have attempted to get new facilities in the past, or have been suggested for consideration for new facilities.

To be most helpful to you, we have organized the information in categories that reflect the likelihood of success for new courts in the next 5 years, 6-15 years, more than 16 years from now, and not likely. In addition, we have a category for maintenance/resurfacing of existing courts.

As you read this information, please keep in mind the following things:

1. It takes a huge amount of time and effort to coordinate and collaborate with private and public organizations to encourage them to add or expand pickleball facilities. For each of the sites listed below, there have been numerous meetings between Club board members (and sometimes non-Board members) and staff with the private and public organizations.

2. Even in situations where there may be interest on the part of the public or private organization(s) to expand pickleball facilities, it always takes time and money to make progress. For example, for most public agencies, there are long public processes (master plan updates, neighborhood outreach, etc.) that need to be followed in order to approve the idea of a pickleball facility, and the issue of funding the facility is an entirely different issue.

3. Even though the demand for more and/or better quality pickleball courts in the greater Eugene-Springfield area is extremely high, it is usually not obvious to the private and public organizations that the existing pickleball in Eugene-Springfield are inadequate. Therefore, the Club usually needs to spend a lot of time educating and convincing the other organizations that the need justifies their time and expense.

4. Locally and nationally, pickleball advocates have encountered that in many locations, pickleball courts are not welcome by neighboring residents, who feel that the impacts from increased traffic, parking impacts, and the sounds of pickleballs hitting the paddles is not appropriate for residential neighborhoods.

5. For all the reasons listed above, the Club needs to work strategically (e.g., working on the opportunities with the greatest likelihood of being successful and meeting the needs of the most number of players).

FACILITIES EVPC HAS HELPED GET INSTALLED

1. Eugene Area High Schools: Sheldon, Churchill, Echo Hollow

2. Striker Park

3. Eugene Swim and Tennis Club

4. Norma Pfeifer Park (Coburg)

5. Installation and Resurfacing of Meadow Park and Westmoreland

6. Coiner Park (Cottage Grove)

A.     NEW FACILITIES POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT 5 YEARS

1. Regional Pickleball Facility at Lane Community College

   This will be a state-of-the-art facility with approximately 24 dedicated pickleball courts. The Club and Emerald Valley Pickleball Foundation are the key drivers of this project. For more information on the regional facility, visit the entire web page we have dedicated to this project.

2. Coiner Park (Cottage Grove)

   There are currently 4 well-maintained courts at Coiner Park. In late April 2022, the Public Works Director approved adding lines for two courts to be used with portable nets. The players in Cottage Grove hope to show City staff that they can fill these courts then they can eventually go back to the City for two more courts and permanent nets to give us their goal of 8 permanent courts.

B.     RESURFACING OF EXISTING FACILITIES WITHIN THE NEXT 5 YEARS

C.     NEW FACILITIES POSSIBLE WITHIN THE 6-15 YEARS

1. Santa Clara Community Park (Eugene)

   The adopted Master Plan for this park (near River Road, adjacent to Madison Middle School) identifies 4 pickleball courts to be constructed. However, there is currently no funding for construction of the courts in the Phase 1 construction, and it will probably be at least 5 years before the City would construct the courts.

2. Lane Events Center/Lane County Fairgrounds (Eugene)

   In early 2022, we began discussions with staff from Lane County Parks and the Lane County Events Center (Fairground) about pickleball courts. Lane County is currently in a “pause” in its Lane Events Center Master Plan process. We want to be poised to contribute ideas to the plan when Lane County resumes the planning process. There are potential opportunities for new outdoor courts at the Fairgrounds, as well as possibilities for indoor courts as part of a multi-use building. We are on the mailing list of “interested parties” for the planning process and will be notified as soon as the process resumes. We will inform all Club members of any public input opportunities.

3. Various Springfield sites managed by Willamalane Park and Recreation District

   Willamalane plans to meet its community’s needs by exploring opportunities for future growth, improvements, and priorities. Every 10 years, Willamalane makes major updates to its Comprehensive Plan. Willamalane started the planning process for the update in early 2022. These updates will provide a 20-year vision and a prioritized project list to guide Willamalane’s future. Our Club currently has 3 people on a Focus Group that is providing input to the Plan. In addition, there will be many opportunities for the public to provide public input to this process, and it will be very important for the pickleball community to provide input early and often in this process to ensure that Willamalane will plan more facilities in Springfield in the future. Among the logical things we can ask for are:

   1. A new outdoor facility with 12 or more courts at the Bob Keefer Center.

   2. Additional courts in other areas of Springfield (e.g., Bob Artz Memorial Park)

   3. On-going maintenance, and potentially expansion, of the facility at Meadow Park.

   4. Potentially at other school sites (e.g., middle schools), in collaboration with the Springfield School District.

4. Harry Holt Memorial Park in Creswell

   We received a suggestion to line the tennis court for pickleball. The Club will provide advice to members who live in Creswell so they can do the preliminary justification and work directly with City of Creswell staff to see if this is a possibility.

D.    NEW FACILITIES POSSIBLE MORE THAN 16 YEARS FROM NOW

1. Golden Gardens Park

   City staff have floated the idea of constructing courts at this park (located near the airport) but it would probably be 20 years from now.

E.     DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE LIKELIHOOD

1. Sladden Park

   There is currently 1 tennis court at this site, and the court has lines for one pickleball court. We are currently in discussions with City of Eugene staff to have more pickleball courts at this location. The court surface needs to be cleaned and ultimately re-surfaced. So, in the short term, we are advocating for the courts to be cleaned and lined for 4 courts with temporary nets. If the site proves popular, then longer term we would advocate for the court to be re-surfaced and then converting the tennis court into 4 permanent courts.

2. Mattie Reynolds Park

   In May 2022, the City of Eugene began a planning process to update this park. Funding for park development is already allocated from the 2018 Parks and Recreation bond measure, and construction is scheduled to be completed in summer 2025. Club members advocated during the first public survey for the City to construct 2-4 courts in this park. We will continue to track the planning process, and continue to advocate for pickleball courts at the remaining two public workshops/survey periods.

3. Thurston High School (Springfield)

   The Athletic Director and Tennis Coach are interested in adding pickleball courts at, or adjacent to, their current tennis facility. We will continue to provide them guidance and support for this effort.

4. Other public high school tennis courts in Eugene and Springfield

   Other high school courts, or public facilities used by local public high schools, are good candidates for adding pickleball lines and portable nets. Possible locations include Amazon Park (used by South Eugene High School).

F.     NOT GOING TO HAPPEN

1.  Washington Park

   There are currently 2 tennis courts at this site, and each court has lines for one pickleball court. The courts are scheduled to be resurfaced in late summer 2022. We were in discussions with City of Eugene staff for about 6 months to have more pickleball courts at this location. We advocated for 2 permanent pickleball courts and 2 courts that would use temporary nets. However, the City conducted outreach to the neighbors and because of the many responses about parking and noise issues, the City will NOT be adding pickleball to this park.

2. North Eugene High School

   We received a suggestion to create indoor courts in an old building that is being replaced. We discussed this this idea with Eugene School District staff, and they indicated the building is too old and dilapidated to be repurposed.