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The results are in: Parkites want more pickleball

Park City is conducting a community survey on Pickleball through February 16th. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Matt York/AP
/
AP
Park City conducted a community survey on Pickleball over the last month. (AP Photo/Matt York)

The results of Park City’s community pickleball survey reveal a strong demand for more opportunities to play, and the planning commission will be reviewing possible changes this week.

Pickleball has captured the attention of many people in Park City in 2022, so much so that the city conducted a community-wide survey on the sport over the past month.

The city will use the results to help guide decision-making on future public courts and craft changes to its land management code after an increased interest in residential courts caused tensions to rise in some Park City neighborhoods.

Just under 600 people participated in the survey, which closed last week. Of those, over 80% identified as current pickleball players, with an additional 7% saying they don't currently play, but would like to in the future.

The good news for those players is the city council green-lighted conceptual plans to expand the PC MARC in January, which include additional pickleball courts.

Other survey results reveal conflicting opinions.

Despite the sport’s popularity, it’s considered excessively noisy. Pickleball is traditionally played on a hard court with a hard ball and hard paddles, causing some residents to raise concerns about excessive noise coming from residential courts or courts open after dark.

But the survey indicates people still want more of it. A solid 75% of respondents were in favor of allowing courts at private residences, and another 56% said people should be allowed to play outside of daylight hours.

Although the results heavily support more pickleball courts, 78% of respondents also said HOA approval should be required to construct them at private residences.

The Park City Planning Commission will review the survey results at its meeting on Wednesday and discuss pickleball-related code changes. Potential changes include things like requiring courts to be at least 50 feet from neighboring properties, notifying adjacent property owners of courts’ construction, and requiring special paddles and noise-reducing fences around courts.

Wednesday’s planning commission meeting begins at 5:30pm. A link to the agenda and survey results can be found here.

Sean Higgins covers all things Park City and is the Saturday Weekend Edition host at KPCW. Sean spent the first five years of his journalism career covering World Cup skiing for Ski Racing Media here in Utah and served as Senior Editor until January 2020. As Senior Editor, he managed the day-to-day news section of skiracing.com, as well as produced and hosted Ski Racing’s weekly podcast. During his tenure with Ski Racing Media, he was also a field reporter for NBC Sports, covering events in Europe.