Parks chief seeks solution to pickleball-tennis conflict

As long as there have been shared tennis-pickleball courts in Camas, there have been clashes — among players vying for more court time, neighbors tired of hearing the recognizable “thwack” of a pickleball racket hitting the ball, and other park users frustrated by crowded parking lots and what they say are an influx of out-of-state pickleball players.

“The biggest problem that we see with the current arrangement and situation is that most of the pickleball players are from elsewhere,” Camas residents and Grass Valley Park tennis court users Myles Crawley and Nikki Zhu said in an email sent in early May to Camas Communications Director Bryan Rachal. “They throw their trash all over the courts and leave empty water bottles, clothing, broken folding chairs and other personal items lying around.”

Frustrated Camas residents have long urged city officials to come up with a solution by writing letters to city councilors, the mayor and parks commission members, and speaking up during public meetings.

Rachal, who served as the city’s interim parks director from August through the beginning of May, investigated pickleball noise mitigation methods, and officials agreed to cancel a plan that would have added pickleball courts to Crown Park’s new multiuse sport court, but officials hesitated to make any drastic changes.

Now, the city’s new parks director is ready to dive into the pickleball-tennis clashes.

“The popularity of pickleball has grown so fast that most municipalities just can’t keep up with the pace of the sport,” Camas Parks and Recreation Director Chris Witkowski said. “When I heard about this 10 years ago, I never imagined it would take off the way it has.”

Though he has only been leading Camas’ parks department since May 5, this is not Witkowski’s first time navigating pickleball-tennis conflicts.

Prior to his move to Camas, Witkowski spent 13 years with the city of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, where he helped plan, develop and operate a network of 150 parks, 2,000 acres of urban park space, 150 miles of pathways, and a number of playgrounds, sports fields, ice rinks and aquatic features.

“There were lots of conflicts over shared courts, court availability, one group not giving up court space,” Witkowski said.

In Canada, Witkowski found one solution that seemed to calm the conflict.

“We decided to have dedicated courts for pickleball and for tennis,” Witkowski said.

He said he is still researching the situation in Camas but believes doing away with the city’s shared-court system, which designates specific days and times for pickleball and tennis players at Crown Park and Grass Valley Park, could be a good starting point.

“My experience is that separating the two uses is the best path forward,” Witkowski said.

Witkowski pitched the idea of creating tennis-only courts at Crown Park and pickleball-only courts at Grass Valley Park to the city’s parks commission members in late May. Returning to tennis-only courts at Crown Park, he added, could alleviate noise-related concerns in the mostly residential Crown Park neighborhood.

“I personally am concerned about the noise of pickleball around Crown Park,” Witkowski said. “I know the continued ‘pop’ of the paddle hitting the ball can be bothersome for some residents.”

The commissioners seemed to like the idea of separating the courts, but they wondered if having dedicated pickleball courts at Grass Valley Park might cause even more crowding at the park’s already heavily used parking lot. They also thought there may be a few underutilized hard surfaces at other Camas parks that could potentially be turned into smaller pickleball courts. All of the commissioners seemed to agree that the city needs to create more pickleball spaces to accommodate the fast-growing sport.

“We’re not meeting the demand for pickleball,” Commissioner David Dewey said. “And we don’t have decades or even years to figure out a solution.”

Witkowski said he wants to gather more information and hear from as many parks users as he can before making any final decisions on the pickleball-tennis courts.

And, he said, any solution won’t happen until at least 2026.

“I want to look at the parking situation at Grass Valley and determine the use for each sport, particularly around pickleball, and look at underutilized courts and parklands to come up with the best solution,” Witkowski said.

The parks director hopes community members invested in the pickleball-tennis court issue will share their thoughts by emailing parks@cityofcamas.us.

“I want to collect data … and know how the community is feeling,” Witkowski said. “I want to try to make it better for everybody if I can.”

Kelly Moyer: 360-735-4674; kelly.moyer@columbian.com