Indoor courts in Park City become a hot commodity once snow begins to fall, creating challenges for the city’s recreation department.
To try to set the right balance, the department formed a court allocation subcommittee, which includes representatives from the tennis and pickleball communities, along with members of a separate recreation advisory board.
The group met three times this summer to discuss the court allocation plan for the coming winter, analyzing MARC data from the previous year.
Park City Recreation Coordinator Cole Johnston, who also sat on the committee, said they’re making one minor tweak to last year’s plan. He said the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Saturday time slot, which was reserved for pickleball play last winter, had a low utilization rate.
“We’re going to offer it for free, and then we’re experimenting with side-by-side play during that time slot,” Johnston said. “We’re going to basically have two pickleball courts available during that time, and two tennis courts available… Folks will still have to reserve it.”
To encourage play during underutilized periods for both sports, play from 6:00 am-8:00 am will also be offered for free on weekdays, according to a staff report.
Johnston said the city plans to install the bubble that covers the outdoor courts Sept. 22.
“We’ve got those outdoor courts closed just through the week as we get the bubble prepped, hang lights … but then with the warmer weather continuing, we won't start the actual tennis and pickleball schedule until Nov. 3,” he said. “So the bubble will be up, we’ll have tennis available in there, but we’ll also have outdoor courts available for as long as we can for both tennis and pickleball.”
The MARC will continue to offer open-play pickleball in the gymnasium on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. This is included in a PC MARC facility pass or can be purchased by paying the daily drop-in fee.
The recreation department will also give 48 to 120 hours of advance notice of unused tennis and pickleball times when possible.
Unused courts will be released on Mondays at 11 a.m. for play Wednesday through Saturday.
Courts for Sunday through Tuesday will be released on Thursdays at 11 a.m.
Consistent with previous years, courts will be released only when all the courts in the bubble are not being used.
To create more court space, the Park City Council entered an agreement with a developer in August to build a new indoor pickleball facility in Quinn’s Junction.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
