Residents urge council to drop Alimagnet Park pickleball proposal over environmental and engagement concerns

Several Burnsville residents used the public-comment period to ask the City Council to reconsider placing a proposed pickleball complex at Alimagnet Park, saying the site choice threatens the lake ecosystem and was advanced without comprehensive public engagement or comparative cost data.

Ed Sturm, a 17-year Burnsville resident and president of the Lake Association and the Alimagnet Eco Advocates, said the group has sought data and documentation for months and "found no data to support the decision to choose Almagnet Park as the location for a pickleball complex." Sturm said the city’s materials show only anecdotal evidence of public demand for pickleball at that site and that the proposed hard surfaces and added parking would increase runoff into a lake the speaker said has been listed as impaired for more than 20 years.

Sturm also said a city-commissioned sound study obtained through a public-records request did not model sound transmission from the proposed courts into surrounding neighborhoods and instead compiled information from various sources; he said the study was limited in evaluating neighborhood noise impacts. He told the council he and his group did not oppose more pickleball courts in Burnsville generally but urged the city to choose a site "more environmentally friendly, more fiscally prudent, and [that] gives the city future options for expansion."

Andrea Grazini, a Frontier Lane resident who described herself as experienced in civic engagement, told the council her group has repeatedly sought basic project information since November and found inconsistencies between staff statements and documents produced under public-records requests. "We've been asking for the data ... since November," Grazini said, and she described finding internal invitations and email outreach to pickleball players that, in her view, contradicted staff statements that invitations had not specifically targeted pickleball participants.

John Kerschel, a 27-year resident, said petition signatures opposing the Alimagnet location came from across the city and were not limited to lakeshore homeowners. "We're not against pickleball. We're just anti that location," Kerschel said, and he summarized recurring concerns he heard from neighbors: potential environmental harm to wetlands and wildlife habitat, increased traffic and noise, and a breakdown in public engagement.

Council Member Schultz asked for comparative cost information for building at Alimagnet versus other parks; Sturm said the only figures his group had from the city were an initial $990,000 estimate for Alimagnet and an updated $1,150,000 figure reported at the Parks and Natural Resources Commission meeting. Sturm and other speakers said the city had not provided comparable cost estimates for alternate sites. Meeting discussion and staff remarks indicated the council planned to review more information at an upcoming work session; a council speaker said staff will present site analyses and mitigation options at that work session.

Speakers asked the council to vote against advancing Alimagnet as the chosen site and to seek alternative locations with fewer environmental trade-offs and clearer public input. Council members indicated they would receive more detailed staff analysis at a future work session before making a final site decision.