‘We did listen to your concerns’: Elk Grove park board brings back pickleball plan despite neighborhood opposition

Nearly two months after withdrawing a proposal for pickleball courts amid neighborhood opposition, Elk Grove Park District commissioners revived the plan and agreed to send it back to the village board for approval.

The 4-1 vote Thursday night sets up a potential June 18 consideration by village trustees, who have indicated their willingness to support the park district’s request for six courts at Marshall Park.

District leaders withdrew the proposal at the March 26 board meeting to evaluate other locations for the courts, but admitted at the time that their search could return to Marshall Park, a 6-acre space in the middle of town at 711 Chelmsford Lane where a $4 million renovation is nearly complete.

A majority of the dozen residents who spoke at the park board meeting Thursday night remain opposed to the plan, leveling concerns including a potential increase in noise and congestion, parking issues and a decrease in their property values.

“The last meeting I felt very heard and very hopeful, and not so much anymore,” said Pat Mitchum, who lives across the street. “It all seems to be a done deal that was conceived long ago.”

“You have to delineate the difference between needs and wants,” Mitchum added, during an exchange with park board commissioners. “The people in our neighborhood need their peace of mind, need that open space. It’s a very densely-populated spot. The open space is to help us keep our sanity. Now to replace that with all this high-density and very loud activity, I don’t think is fair to the people that live there.”

But commissioners said they did consider residents’ comments during their evaluation of eight other locations and — when Marshall Park was still deemed to be the favorite — found ways to mitigate the impact.

That included a sound study that showed there would be “minimal disruptions” to residents from the sound of paddles hitting pickleballs, said Commissioner Tom Cooke, chair of the district’s capital committee and one of the early supporters of pickleball at Marshall Park.

The park also was seen as an ideal locale because of its 68-space parking lot — more than other parks. Residents, however, fear overflow onto nearby streets because of everything else going on at the park. The upgrade project also includes a new playground, splash pad, shelter, basketball court, walking path and lighting for the existing soccer field.

But Cooke said all those events won’t be going on at the same time, and mainly in the spring and summer.

“We are listening. We did listen,” he said. “We went back to the drawing board. And we may not agree with the ultimate conclusion that you have that you don’t want it there. But we did listen to your concerns to try to address as many issues as we could.”

Commissioner Bill O’Malley took a harder tack.

“I can’t have the minority continue to dictate to the majority what should happen in a particular area,” he said. “And the people that I talk to in this community want more pickleball.”

During board deliberations, Commissioner Bob Biedke said he was undecided, believing that there are other locations to put pickleball courts, but also disputing arguments over a decrease in property values and increase in noise. During the roll call, Biedke was the lone “no” vote.

The park district currently has six outdoor pickleball courts at its Rainbow Falls Waterpark and three indoor courts at the Jack A. Claes Pavilion.