Wichita plans to replace two tennis courts with six pickleball courts at east-side park

Picklers just scored a key victory in the ongoing turf war between Wichita’s pickleball and tennis communities over the use of city parks facilities.

The Wichita City Council on Tuesday approved the conversion of two tennis courts at Edgemoor Park into six more pickleball courts.

Parks and Recreation Director Troy Houtman said the problem with the six existing pickleball courts at Edgemoor is there are no court lights, limiting their use in the evenings.

“Playing under the lights just extends the playability,” Houtman told the council.

Installing court lights for the existing pickleball facilities would cost at least $140,000, Houtman said, making it more cost-effective to convert two of the park’s six tennis courts that are already equipped with lighting.

Community group Light Up Edgemoor raised $27,000 for the project. Those funds are being matched by the Wichita Parks Foundation. The city parks board approved the design plan for the new courts in August.

“The demand for pickleball is a tidal wave. It’s overwhelming right now,” Houtman said. The city’s $3 million, 20-court “pickleplex” is slated to open in south Wichita in 2024.

Council member Maggie Ballard voted against the Edgemoor court conversion project.

“As a tennis player, I just want to make sure that we’re not saturating the city and pushing out some of our tennis players — especially the youth,” she said.

The Classical School of Wichita, a K-12 nonprofit in east Wichita, has middle and high school tennis teams practice on Edgemoor courts six months out of the year.

“I’m just struggling taking the courts away from the kids that are using the courts,” Ballard said.

Houtman said his department has suggested that the teams could use court facilities at Riverside or McAdams parks.

“They were a little bit frustrated because of the distance that they’d have to travel,” Houtman said. “But there are other opportunities for tennis courts. We can work with the school district because each one of the high schools have tennis courts.”

Houtman said his department hasn’t forgotten about tennis supporters, many of whom petitioned the park board not to move forward with the Edgemoor project.

“The parks and recreation department is committed to finding opportunities to support both tennis and pickleball,” Houtman said, pointing out that the city plans to resurface the existing six tennis courts at McAdams Park in 2023.

“Those will be the best courts in the city once we’re done with those,” Houtman said.

This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 1:18 PM.