But, with some added fixes over the next few months, the courts could be open in time for next winter.
The Park City Planning Commission last month approved a conditional use permit to install six pickleball courts for public play in one of the bays at the Utah Film Studio at Quinn’s Junction.
Recreation Director Ken Fisher said it took a lot of work to lay a subfloor under the court material, but they just couldn’t get it right in time to make it worthwhile this winter.
“We were out there with probably three, four staff, and we put probably at least 500 screws into that plywood, trying to secure it. Then we laid the court down, we would play on it, and then we would mark the dead spots with tape, then pull sections of the court up and try to mitigate those dead spots. So, long story short, we really just ran out of time because of the amount of effort and time that it took to get a decent bounce out of it.”
He believed it will be a viable facility in the future.
"We've had pickleball players out there playing on it, and sort of the feedback is that it's an awesome space, the lighting, the background, everything that say, give it an A plus," he said. "But the consistency of the bounce right now is probably about a C+.”
The film studio, he said, has been great to work with and no lease has been signed yet. For now, the plan is to tweak the playing area even more this summer.
“The key thing is that we would need a commitment from the film studio, probably by the end of the summer, in order for us to get it playable and make sure it's ready for November 1,” Fisher said.
For now, the flooring will stay where it is unless the film studio needs the city to remove it.
Meanwhile, Fisher said the city has selected a firm to work with to build 12 indoor courts as part of a public-private partnership. The courts would be built on city owned property at Quinn’s Junction between the Ice Arena and the U. S. Ski and Snowboard Center of Excellence. He said the city is still negotiating with the selected firm.
