VISTA — City leaders agreed last week to add eight new pickleball courts at Brengle Terrace Park to meet the growing need in the community while also removing four existing courts at Thibodo Park.
Brengle Terrace and Thibodo have both hosted pickleball courts since 2019 in response to the sport’s rising popularity. The courts have rarely been empty since, and in recent years, players have been clamoring for the city to add more courts due to long wait times for players.
At the council’s Aug. 13 meeting, city leaders discussed the possibility of adding more courts at Brengle Terrace by converting underutilized tennis courts. An individual tennis court can hold four pickleball courts.
Several pickleball players spoke in favor of the idea, noting that hundreds of people of all ages play at Brengle Terrace every day.
“Vista has regularly-unused tennis courts and four more pickleball courts can easily be created,” said resident Gary Duffield. “We’ve worked with city staff now for over three years working on getting more courts, and it’s now time for the city to offer more courts.”
City staff recommended converting one of the park’s six tennis courts into four new pickleball courts and then constructing a replacement tennis court elsewhere in the park.
However, Councilmember Dan O’Donnell suggested converting two tennis courts for pickleball at Brengle Terrace to yield eight new pickleball courts and foregoing a new tennis court entirely.
O’Donnell also recommended converting the four pickleball courts at Thibodo back to tennis courts in response to frequent noise complaints from neighboring residents. He cited data shared with the council from Placer.ai, indicating that the majority of people playing pickleball at Thibodo come from outside the city.
“About 30% of people that use the courts at Thibodo are from Vista. So when 70% of the population outside of Vista is utilizing those courts, that’s the reason I think it’s amicable to solve the problem [of] making sure that we have enough tennis courts, while also, you’re also getting an additional pickleball court out of it,” O’Donnell said.
The council unanimously approved this option, with other council members agreeing that the Thibodo courts have caused issues for neighboring residences. The four closest homes are within 200 to 300 feet of the courts.
“I also agree that pickleball courts at Thibodo have been a problem, because we have folks from Carlsbad using those bad boys and causing a nuisance to our Vista residents,” said Councilmember Joe Green.
The decision to close the courts at Thibodo shocked community members who frequently play pickleball at the park. As of Tuesday, a Change.org petition asking the city not to close the courts had gathered over 370 signatures, and several residents also contacted city leaders.
Vista resident Mor Hasson, who created the petition, said the closures at Thibodo would be a huge loss for the community, and only make waits longer at Brengle Terrace.
“Even here at these courts, there’s usually like eight to 12 people waiting to play,” he said.
When it comes to noise issues, Hasson said pickleball players at Thibodo are very cognizant about being respectful to neighbors. He said he would have liked to see more discussion with the community before the city made this decision.
“The main cause of this decision to close the courts appears to be noise complaints, but we believe that more thoughtful, community-focused solutions can and should be explored regarding the noise issues related to the Thibodo Park Pickleball courts,” he said.
At the Aug. 13 meeting, Mayor John Franklin said the city did not know how loud a sport, pickleball, could be when they first approved the courts.
“We were one of the early leaders of pickleball, but we did not know how loud it is,” Franklin said. “I have felt very bad for the people who own homes in the immediate vicinity.”
Converting the tennis courts at Brengle Terrace is expected to take around six months and cost around $40,000 per court, according to a staff report. City spokesperson Fred Tracey said the city is also estimating to close the Thibodo pickleball courts within six months.
The conversions at Brengle Terrace will add 12 total pickleball courts and leave four remaining tennis courts.
New pickleball courts are also being considered at other future park sites, according to a staff report. This could include the 6-acre Vista Courthouse site adjacent to the County Complex and the 2-acre Matagual Drive site at Matagual Drive and Hacienda Drive.
Pickleball infrastructure is also popping up in other North County cities. Earlier this year, neighboring Carlsbad approved the addition of eight new courts between Calavera Hills and Stagecoach parks.
Escondido is adding its first eight courts next summer at Mountain View Park, and San Marcos will see the addition of four courts at the new Restaurant Row development. Oceanside is also considering adding 12 courts at El Corazon Park.
