San Francisco Pickleball Players Push Back on Plan to Remove Courts at Presidio Wall

The boundary lines at one of San Francisco's most popular pickleball venues are now in dispute. This week, the city's Recreation and Park Department announced plans to remove some of the lines at the busy Presidio Wall courts, and a small but passionate group of players has responded with alarm.

Under the plan, six of the park's roughly dozen pickleball courts would revert to their original use as tennis courts. Players, some of whom wait in line for hours on weekends to get a game, have warned of "pickle protests" and "pickle disobedience." The department has also asked that crowd-funded pickleball nets be taken off the courts by Friday.

The requests were laid out in an email circulated among local players in recent days and posted to pickleballsf.com. They caught the community off guard. The move follows months of efforts to address noise complaints from neighboring homeowners who are tired of the sound of pickleballs being struck near their backyards.

Tensions between players and residents peaked in August, when longtime Presidio Heights resident Holly Peterson alleged that the sale of her $36 million home fell through because of the constant sound of pickleballs nearby. Her home, notably, had its own pickleball court.

According to a press release from the San Francisco Pickleball Community issued Monday, the de-lined courts will become "tennis only," effectively cutting the number of pickleball courts at Presidio Wall in half. The department's email, dated Sunday, said the lines on courts three and four, which face West Pacific Avenue, would be removed in winter or spring depending on the weather, "due to extensive use of those courts during hours not designated for pickleball." It also asked the community to remove its "unpermitted rolling nets" from those courts by Friday.

Mary Hickey, a volunteer pickleball instructor at Presidio Wall and a Bay Area ambassador for USA Pickleball, said she was angered by how sudden the announcement was and by the lack of discussion among the city, homeowners and players. "No discussion. No anything," she said. "I thought we had a democracy where we discuss things."

Daniel Montes, communications manager for the department, said in a statement that the agency is trying to meet demand for new courts quickly while balancing the needs of other sports communities. He said the number of public pickleball courts in San Francisco has grown seven-fold over five years, from 12 in 2018 to more than 80 now, including 63 outdoor courts. The department is working with the Pickleball Working Group to find new locations and plans to convert more tennis courts.

In a separate news release, the department said it will add dual lines to two tennis courts at Moscone Park Playground in the Marina, creating six new pickleball courts expected to open in the spring. It will also add pickleball lines to every tennis court it repaves. Of the system's 139 tennis courts, more than 12% have been dual-lined for pickleball, according to the city.

The San Francisco Pickleball Community called the department's efforts to balance access "valid and commendable," but criticized the lack of any public forum for the Presidio Wall neighborhood. An online petition launched Monday has gathered more than 600 signatures, asking the department to delay changes until a proper notification and outreach process has taken place.

Players plan to air their grievances at the Recreation and Park Commission meeting on Thursday at 10 a.m. If the department does not change course, Hickey said, the community is prepared to hold a peaceful demonstration on the courts Friday. "Everybody's on alert that pickle protests are very much of a possibility," she said.