Council approves $3M for priority projects; Groupie Park to get permanent 10-court pickleball facility

The Stockton City Council authorized the appropriation and budget additions requested to fund $3,000,000 in council-priority projects for fiscal year 2024—25 after committee recommendations. Deputy City Manager Jay Kapoor presented the committee's recommended list of projects and discussed timing and procurement procedures for each item.

Public comment on the item was heavily focused on Groupie Park, where a large group of players urged the council to convert three existing tennis courts into ten permanent dedicated pickleball courts. Many players and seniors described health and social benefits and said Stockton lacks permanent public pickleball courts compared with neighboring cities.

Public Works staff said the parks division would manage the project and recommended community outreach during design; the city manager and public works director noted that including community input during design phases is typical but cautioned that non-city entities cannot directly control the design contract. Several council members expressed support for converting the existing courts to 10 permanent pickleball courts and for involving users in outreach and design review. Council also indicated support to move $20,000 from project contingency to support a private anti-retail-theft billboard campaign that had been discussed in committee.

The council motion to approve the appropriation and the committee's recommended projects passed on a 6-0 vote with one member absent; staff will proceed to design and procurement steps.