Construction on the planned pickleball courts for the Walter Reed Community Center is expected to begin by the end of this year.
The Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation announced the next steps for the hotly contested project and unveiled 90% complete designs last week. The project is set to go out for bid this spring and a contract is expected to go to the Arlington County Board for approval in the summer.
Work is on track to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, per the announcement.
“Thank you to all who provided feedback throughout the engagement process,” the county said.
The final project design differs only slightly from revised plans that the county announced in November. The county now plans to remove six trees and made minor revisions to its plans for the parking lot at Walter Reed.
The November proposal called for:
- increasing the distance between future courts near 16th Street S. and residential homes to a distance of about 170 feet
- adding acoustic fencing to both sets of courts and landscaping in between
- adding a deck to protect a large existing tree and provide respite space
- improving circulation for people with disabilities
- increasing parking spaces by four
- resurfacing the basketball courts
Pickleball proponents and neighbors irked by the infamous “pickleball pop” have been at loggerheads over plans for the Walter Reed Community Center since 2022.
That is when county officials announced plans to build dedicated pickleball courts at the community center, replacing part of the park’s wooded area along with an existing tennis court that has been co-opted for pickleball.
Residents living near the courts have sought relief from the thwack of pickleballs striking paddles and fiercely opposed plans to further encourage the sport at Walter Reed. They have threatened legal action and distributed fliers with allegations of players bullying children around “hijacked” tennis and basketball courts.
In addition to installing acoustic fencing to soften noise levels, the county had considered pausing the project, putting the question to community members last spring.
“Respondents were slightly more in favor of continuing the project, though it should be noted that respondents who identified as players are more in favor of continuing and those self-identifying as neighbors were more in favor of pausing,” Dept. of Parks and Recreation planning director Erik Beach said in November.
The survey drew skepticism from residents such as Columbia Heights Civic Association President Ron Haddox, who argued that it circulated in pro-pickleball online forums nationally and internationally. He argued that this “calls into question the genuineness of at least some portion of the feedback received.”
An additional round of feedback took place in November and December.
Of the 228 comments provided, the most common refrain, from 69 commenters, was that the final plan does not include enough pickleball courts, followed by 47 people who said the county should keep pickleball on the basketball court. The third most-popular comment type, with 42 mentions, was “looks good/like the compromise.”