East Green Lake Pickleball Courts Resurfacing

Introduction

The East Green Lake pickleball and tennis courts were resurfaced in the summer 2020. In this document, the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association brings up a few concerns with the new surface.

The concerns are:

Sand
Court Lines Visibility
Cracks and Holes

Sand Status

As of December 2nd, the courts were covered with sand as shown in the following video.

Players had swept the courts multiple times but that did not seem to solve the problem for long.

As of December 4th, there might no longer be any sand on the courts.

Sand Concerns

When there is sand on the court, it is a safety issue as the sand is slippery.

We are also concerned that as we play tennis and pickleball on those courts when there is loose sand on the surface, we are effectively sanding down the new surface that was applied to the courts.

The sand doesn't seem to be coming from outside the courts. If it is coming from the courts, is it the sand that is supposed to be embedded in the surface paint to provide slip resistance? If that is the case, once the paint is done shedding sand, will the paint become slick when wet? This would be a safety issue as well.

Sand Questions

Will the Parks department clean the sand off the courts if it reappears?
Is the sand damaging the courts?
Where does the sand come from? Is the sand shedding from the court surface itself? If so, are the courts going to be slicker than they should be? If so, what are the city's plans (if any) to remedy the situation?

Sand Details

Here is a slideshow showing the sand on the East Green Lake courts on December 2nd. You can click on each picture in the slideshow to get access to the full resolution version.

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Line Visibility Status

The pickleball court lines painted are very faint and hard to see from afar.

The pictures below show the situation. You can click on each picture to get access to the full resolution version. You can then zoom in to view the details.

Can you see all the pickleball court lines in this picture?

Here we have marked in yellow some of the pickleball lines that are barely visible otherwise.
Note that the adjacent tennis lines are easily visible due to their higher contrast.

Line Visibility Concerns

Pickleball players attempt to hit the ball so that it lands in their opponents' side of the court. This is hard to do if you can't clearly see the court lines.

Line Visibility Questions

We have heard that the Parks department has already asked the contractor to repaint the lines so they are more visible. Is that the case?
The Bitter Lake outdoor courts were recently resurfaced and the pickleball lines were painted blue there. Since blue was acceptable at Bitter Lake, would the Parks department consider using the same color at Green Lake?

Cracks and Holes Status

Major cracks and holes are already reappearing as shown in the following video and picture.

Cracks and Holes Concerns

Common sports courts maintenance recommendations indicate that cracks need to be taken care of, or they will keep getting wider. Therefore, we are concerned that these cracks will widen faster than if they were filled.

Cracks and Holes Questions

While it is expected that most cracks and holes will eventually reappear, it is surprising that all those cracks are already open just a few weeks after the resurfacing was completed. Is this what the Parks department expected?
Could the cracks be repaired so they do not get any wider?

Cracks and Holes Details

Here is a slideshow of other pictures of cracks on the East Green Lake courts. You can click on each picture in the slideshow to get access to the full resolution version.

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