Commissioners Approve Pickleball Courts at Jefferson Elementary School

Recreation and Parks Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously voted in favor of the concept design for two temporary pickleball courts proposed for Jefferson Elementary School. 

The city pays $100,000 per year for the lease of the Jefferson Elementary School grounds from Pasadena Unified School District for Library, Police and Fire Department programs through November 2027. 

As demand for more pickleball facilities in the city grew, the city decided to construct temporary pickleball courts at the school located at 1500 East Villa Street. A budget of $130,000 is allotted for the project.

Just last October 26, the city opened to the public the newly renovated pickleball courts at McKinley School.

Currently, there are nine pickleball courts in Pasadena: four at Allendale Park, four at McKinley School and one joint use (with basketball) at McDonald Park. 

A dedicated pickleball facility with twelve pickleball courts is planned for Vina Vieja Park, with two courts anticipated to be constructed in Fall 2023 as part of a phased approach. 

“We came to select the site at Jefferson for pickleball because we thought it would be an ideal site for a temporary pickleball court,” said Brenda Harvey-Williams, Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services.

“We have on the books, on the CIP budget, a project to build 12 courts at  Vina Vieja Park. Currently we have funding to complete two of those courts and construction on that will begin later this year but we know we won’t probably have the funding to build the remaining 10 at once so we’re trying to phase it in and until we can build more courts at Vina Vieja Park, which is our plan, we want to put in some temporary courts – two temporary courts at Jefferson,” Harvey-Williams added. 

Harvey-Williams said having pickleball courts at the site is ideal because they can address the high demand for morning pickleball.

She noted that pickleball courts at Mckinley are open during the after school hours and all day during the weekends and school holidays.

Once the construction is done, the public can use the pickleball courts planned for Jefferson Elementary School from 8 a.m. to dusk during weekdays and 9 a.m. to dusk during the weekends, according to  Harvey-Williams.

Hayden Melbourn, Capital Project Manager at the Public Works Department said the construction of the pickleball courts project at Jefferson Elementary School also involves the construction of a court fencing, a gate, as well as benches under modified shade structure. 

The construction is anticipated to start by spring of 2023 and to be completed in the summer of 2023.