Encinitas residents urge more pickleball time, balanced gym scheduling

Tuesday, Feb. 18 — Dozens of Encinitas residents told the Parks and Recreation Commission on Feb. 18 that rising demand for pickleball is outstripping available indoor gym time at the Encinitas Community Center and is limiting access for older players.

Speakers and frequent players said the city’s current gym calendar gives substantially more hours to basketball than to pickleball and urged the commission and staff to rebalance time, publish participation data and consider modest fees or punch cards to manage demand.

“Open play basketball is available seven days a week while open play pickleball is only available four mornings a week,” said Eric Coolbaugh, a resident who organized a petition. “A petition with 70 plus signatures has been submitted to the parks and rec department requesting that management review the gymnasium usage every six months along with the sign in logs to balance out gym usage across all interests.”

Coolbaugh…