Palo Alto pickleball club offers to fund 8 new Mitchell Park courts; commissioners raise parking, noise and process concerns

A representative of the Palo Alto Pickleball Club told the Parks and Recreation Commission on April 22 that demand at Mitchell Park has outstripped available courts and asked the city to investigate adding eight new courts at the site, paid for by the club and a private benefactor.

The club representative said Mitchell Park’s 15 courts now operate from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., have about 1,400 club members—58 percent of whom live in Palo Alto—and that courts are often “two or three times” over capacity. The proposal presented would expand courts from 15 to 23, increasing capacity by about 53 percent. The presenter said the club and the benefactor have funds lined up to cover construction costs and estimated an approximate project cost on the order of “a hundred ks,” and that the club would continue routine stewardship and maintenance if the expansion proceeds.

The commission’s governing role is not to approve the privately funded offer tonight; the presentation was informational. Commissioners and staff discussed next steps and asked for more detail on site selection, parking and neighborhood impacts, and the city’s capacity to manage any project.

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