Sunnyvale staff recommend dedicated pickleball, tennis and cricket facilities after community outreach

Sunnyvale staff and consultants presented findings from an outdoor sports assessment on Jan. 28, recommending a mix of dedicated courts and overlays for pickleball and tennis and improvements or new pitches for cricket at several city parks.

The study team said community outreach and a site inventory informed the recommendations. "The top 3 responses were pickleball, cricket, and tennis," Pat Healy of Verde Design told the City Council as he summarized survey and meeting results.

The recommendation list included dedicated pickleball courts at De Anza and Encinal parks; tennis courts at Las Palmas and Ponderosa parks; pickleball overlays on basketball courts at Ortega and Washington parks; a new cricket pitch at Las Palmas Park; and refurbishment of the existing cricket area at Ortega Park. Staff emphasized that all recommendations would require additional neighborhood outreach, design work and inclusion in the city's capital improvement program.

Why it matters: Council members flagged tradeoffs the study raised — noise from pickleball, spacing from adjacent residences, and cricket's large spatial footprint — and said they want clearer data on current usage before projects move into design or the CIP. Several council members and the public urged an even distribution of new facilities across the city and consultation with organized sports groups.

What the study said: The project team described a two‑phase outreach effort: an initial community survey and outreach to neighboring jurisdictions to benchmark facilities, followed by a second community meeting and a second online survey. Healy said the first survey and outreach helped identify demand, and the second meeting — with 79 participants — and a follow‑up survey refined preferred park locations.

Healy and other staff walked the council through site feasibility at six parks the team flagged for near‑term consideration. De Anza was recommended for up to 12 dedicated pickleball courts because it has on‑site restrooms, paths and parking. Las Palmas, currently in a separate renovation design process, was identified as the top choice for a new cricket pitch and as the first‑rank location for additional tennis courts.

Cost and design: Staff presented rough order‑of‑magnitude costs and example layouts. A typical new small pickleball complex (several courts plus lighting, fencing and benches) was presented as a six‑court with lighting example; staff estimated a full new courts project on that scale at roughly $1.1 million. Pickleball striping overlays on existing courts were presented as lower‑cost options (the presentation estimated about $60,000 per court for some overlay scenarios). A two‑court tennis installation with lighting was shown in the $1.05 million range. Cricket estimates were larger: staff presented a rough total range of about $3.5 million to $4.2 million for a new adult cricket facility when site prep, irrigation/sod, pitch work and shared field lighting upgrades are included; the team stressed that much of the cricket cost is for shared lighting and field infrastructure that would benefit multiple sports.

Questions from council and staff responses: Mayor Kline and members asked for more precise usage data for current park reservations and informal use (hours, number of reservations, who holds them). Michelle Pereira, Director of Library and Recreation Services, and Tracy Gott, Recreation Services Manager, said staff had reached out to sports groups and class registrants and that survey respondents were largely Sunnyvale residents but that staff would report more detailed ZIP‑code and group participation breakdowns in follow‑up materials. Chip Taylor, Director of Public Works (on Zoom), said funding placement would be considered through the annual CIP process and that having the report completed early in the year helps staff propose projects for the next CIP cycle.

Public comment: Organized players and residents spoke in favor of more free, publicly accessible pickleball courts and for proper cricket pitches so local youth and adult players could practice locally rather than travel outside Sunnyvale. Speakers asked that new facilities be built with community access in mind and requested follow‑up neighborhood outreach to ensure nearby residents' concerns about noise and lighting are addressed.

Next steps: Staff said the recommendations will be factored into the final report and the 20‑year parks CIP prioritization and that specific projects (notably Las Palmas Park) could be considered in the current design process. Council asked for additional outreach with neighborhood groups, youth sports organizations (Little League, soccer associations) and more detailed usage/reservation data to be returned with refined cost and schedule recommendations.

Ending: The council did not take any formal action on the study at the Jan. 28 meeting; staff will return with refined analysis and outreach results before advancing projects into design and budgeting.