Bainbridge Island parks leadership had its first looks at a fresh set of pickleball courts coming to central BI, following months of talks with stakeholders.
Melissa Bang-Knudsen of the BI Pickleball Club presented a design for 11 covered and lit courts at Strawberry Hill Park at the park district board meeting Oct 17. The proposal would be the largest public pickleball facility in Kitsap County and second-largest overall. A newly acquired undeveloped property just east of the park will support the complex, said Erin Johnston, parks district representative.
BIPC will work with park district staff to assess logistics, drawing on the comments and questions received during the initial meeting. Those insights will guide the next steps in the project’s exploration, Johnston said.
The island’s growing pickleball community has sought a place to play during inclement weather and outside of daylight hours for years. There are 21 courts spread around BI, but only two are indoors. The additional complex at Strawberry would support nighttime and rainy-day play.
Recreation space is limited on BI, which means that any new developments must be weighed against existing use. The location of the new pickleball complex represents a compromise between several parks-dependent local hobby groups.
Before landing at Strawberry Hill, the district considered Battle Point Park for the new lighted courts — conveniently next to the largest outdoor pickleball area on BI, the Founder’s Courts, but also on top of the park’s current maintenance yard and next to the Edwin E. Ritchie Observatory. That was shot down as light pollution would hurt stargazing at the observatory, Frank Petrie, president of the Battle Point Astronomical Association, said at a parks meeting last summer.
Along with that, parks Commissioner Ken DeWitt said that park’s stormwater requirements and septic system capacity would have to be addressed before covered courts could be greenlit. The maintenance yard at Battle Point would also have to be relocated.
“Strawberry Hill Park is centrally located and is more of an open slate,” DeWitt said.
In June, BIPC members narrowly voted in favor of a proposal at Strawberry Hill, with 36 choosing Strawberry and 34 choosing Battle Point.
