You have been heard
Kirkland has been gathering community input for over a year, asking us what we would like to see in their upcoming Parks plan. Those of you who were invited to the Focus Group Meetings were heard. The same is true for those of you who participated in the Community Conversations and in the Everest neighborhood online survey.
Consider this
The plan has about 20 pages of goals and objectives. one of those is to consider adding pickleball at Juanita Beach Park.
Level of Service
The plan suggests that Kirkland should have 1 tennis court per 3,000 people and estimates it has a current surplus of 3 tennis courts, which will be go down to no surplus tennis courts by 2026.
Unfortunately, the plan does not propose a similar analysis for pickleball courts. Why should the planning process be different for pickleball than for tennis?
You have not been funded
The plan draft concludes with Capital Improvement Projects divided into two lists.
The first list contains several funded projects that will cost $19,758,400.
The second, much larger, list of unfunded project contains an item titled “Construct New Pickleball Courts” with a price tag of $97,500.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to convince the Kirkland Parks Department to move the construction of new pickleball courts from the unfunded list to the funded list.
What should I do?
Ask that the Parks Department fund the construction of new pickleball courts. It’s in their plan. It’s cheap. They will not fund it unless enough people ask for it.
Ask that the Parks Department define “Level of Services” for pickleball. Why predict the need for tennis courts but not for pickleball courts?
How should I do it?
Email PlayItForward@kirklandwa.gov today.
Attend the virtual Public Hearing on May 25, 2022 at 7:00PM