West Vancouver to build four new pickleball courts at Ambleside

The District of West Vancouver will spend $350,000 to build four new outdoor pickleball courts in Ambleside Park this summer.

Mayor Mark Sager announced the decision to go ahead with the outdoor pickleball courts during the regular council meeting March 11, garnering applause from a contingent of pickleball players who showed up for the news.

“I think there’s some people who are going to play at this facility,” said Sager. “We expect that these facilities will be constructed as fast as we can because we know there are people anxious to play on them.”

The four new pickleball courts will be built on Ambleside’s gravel “H field,” currently being used as a parking lot south of the Spirit Trail near the par 3 golf course.

Ed Pielak, spokesperson for West Vancouver pickleball players, said players are thrilled about the new courts, which are badly needed.

“There’s such a demand,” he said, especially with seniors.

According to the district, an “acoustic curtain” – essentially a padded wall – will be installed on the east and south sides of the courts to reduce sound transmission to a nearby daycare and protect the court from dust. The north and west sides will not have curtains installed unless deemed necessary later, according to the municipality. The nearest homes in Ambleside are almost 280 metres away, according to the municipality - beyond the 75 metre zone in which noise mitigation is usually needed.

The decision to build the courts comes following a recommendation this fall from West Vancouver’s Pickleball Advisory Round Table.

The funding for the pickleball courts comes from $800,000 previously approved for Tennis BC’s indoor tennis/pickleball facility, which the district still aims to build at Hugo Ray Park.

Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in North America, particularly among seniors. There has been significant demand for court time in West Vancouver, where an older population tends to mirror the demographic of pickleball players.

But as in other communities where pickleball has taken off, the sport has not been without detractors and controversies.

Tensions have erupted between tennis players and pickleballers when tennis courts have been converted into pickleball courts.

The sport has also drawn complaints in residential neighbourhoods because of the loud “pop” sound made every time a ball is struck.

Five years ago, in 2019, the first three outdoor pickleball courts opened in West Van at 29th Street and Marine Drive on a former tennis court – where they quickly filled up with enthusiastic players. Just as quickly, however, pickleballers drew noise complaints from neighbours.

That prompted the council of the day to reverse course and shut down those pickleball courts, converting them back to tennis courts in 2022.

In their place, the municipality set up four temporary pickleball courts on the northern sports court at Normanby Park.

Those courts, in the upper reaches of the district’s upper lands, are further away from nearby homes, and so haven’t generated the same kind of complaints, according to district staff.

There are also four West Vancouver parks where tennis and pickleball players share courts: at Benbow, Chairlift, Cypress Park School and Whytecliff parks.

Pielak said local players are happy to have those courts, but welcome a more dedicated space to play their sport.

A year ago, district council and Tennis BC announced they had also signed a memorandum of understanding that would see the sporting organization build and run an inflated dome containing six tennis courts along with new covered pickleball courts in the southeast corner of Hugo Ray Park, which would be open to the public 85 per cent of the time.

Details of how and when that project will get off the ground are still under discussion, according to the district.