Planning commission backs new parking standard for pickleball, tennis‑only facilities

MIDVALE, Utah — The Midvale City Planning Commission on Jan. 8 voted to recommend that the City Council adopt a text amendment to Title 17 of the Midvale City Municipal Code establishing parking standards based on the number of courts for tennis and pickleball‑only commercial recreation facilities.

The amendment would create a specific parking calculation for facilities that are exclusively tennis or pickleball, rather than using the existing commercial recreation facility standard, which staff said can produce very large parking requirements for court‑based facilities. "For someone like them, they have 6 courts in the facility and based on their square footage, the code would have required them to provide, like, over 90 parking stalls," said Liz, a Midvale City planning staff member. "So that's how we came up with doing the parking count per courts, and we thought 6 would be enough... and that leaves some room for guests or other people that might be playing or rotating on."

The staff presentation said the proposed approach bases required parking on the number of courts; commissioners during discussion said the suggested ratio (six parking spaces per court for the typical maximum) appeared reasonable for indoor court facilities and would avoid forcing large surface parking lots where they are not needed. "It makes sense to me," Commissioner Tippett said during the discussion, noting that the current square‑footage calculation can overcount stalls compared with actual demand.

Staff said the change targets indoor tennis and pickleball‑only facilities; mixed‑use recreation centers that include basketball or other uses would continue to be subject to the higher, existing recreation parking standard. Staff also confirmed that required occupancy limits for a building would still apply and that parking would be enforced against the use in operation if the occupant changed.

The commission opened and then closed the public hearing with no public comments. Commissioner motioned to recommend approval "as provided in the attachments with the finding noted in the staff report." The motion passed on a roll‑call vote with the members recorded as voting yes: Chair Erickson; Commissioner Kasparian; Commissioner Snell; Commissioner Lidke; and Commissioner Tippett. The commission’s recommendation sends the amendment to the City Council for final action.

If the City Council approves the text amendment, staff told the commission it will reduce the required parking for single‑use court facilities and allow conditional use permit applicants and property owners to plan parking by courts rather than by building square footage. The staff presentation tied the amendment to general plan objectives and the purposes of Title 17, saying it supports cohesive development and efficient use of space.

Next steps: the City Council will consider the commission recommendation at a future meeting; staff did not provide a specific council hearing date during the January 8 meeting.