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Mountain View is seeking community input on the design of a new outdoor pickleball facility that could accommodate up to a dozen courts.
Earlier this year, the City Council approved a plan to lease and redevelop two vacant Google-owned properties at 485 and 495 Clyde Ave, near the Sunnyvale border. The city plans to turn the 3.72-acre site into a public park with pickleball courts.
On Monday evening, city staff held a meeting at the Mountain View Community Center to unveil two possible concept designs – a nine-court or 12-court pickleball facility. To make way for the courts, the city plans to demolish two vacant buildings on the eastern portion of the property, adjacent to the Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course.
The courts will be built before the public park, according to Faryal Saiidnia, the city’s senior project manager.
“It would be just courts and very essential amenities, including lighting, drinking fountains, fencing and temporary restrooms,” Saiidnia said at the Oct. 12 meeting. “Gathering areas would initially have some movable tables and benches.”
Permanent amenities will be included when the future park is developed, Saiidnia said. She added that there was “no current established timeline” for the park and that it would have a separate community engagement and planning process.
The two design options for the pickleball courts are fairly similar, except for the number of courts and gathering areas. The nine-court option is arranged in three groups of three courts with two gathering areas. The 12-court option is arranged in four groups of three courts with one gathering area.
Community members can indicate their layout preference by taking a city survey. The survey deadline is Oct. 21.
Community responses to pickleball courts
About 60 people showed up to the Oct. 12 meeting to learn more about the pickleball court proposal. Several told the Voice that they favored the 12-court option.
“I’m rooting for the bigger project,” Mountain View resident Alok Sonthalia said. However, he questioned the city’s timeline to build the courts, which likely will not start until early 2028, according to Saiidinia.
“I appreciate the city’s commitment, but why does it take a year for the design?” Sonthalia asked.
A few attendees also expressed concern about the proximity of the courts to a large office complex north of the site.
“I want sound barriers,” said Anita Moreci, a Sunnyvale resident and bookkeeper who works in an office building on Clyde Avenue. She also noted that stray golf balls could pose a danger to pickleball players.
“Parked cars get dinged all the time,” she told the Voice.
Before selecting the Clyde property, the city had considered other pickleball sites, including Cuesta Park and the adjacent annex. That proposal drew substantial opposition from a group of community members who argued the courts would pave over valuable green and open space and would disrupt the tranquility of the area.
A group of Mountain View residents also pushed back on a proposal to build pickleball courts on a San Rafael Avenue site, which the city had recently purchased to develop a future park. They noted the courts would contribute to noise and parking congestion in the neighborhood and expressed a desire to see more green space and less concrete.
For the Clyde site, city staff plan to conduct a noise analysis once a design is selected and will then consider mitigation measures, including noise barriers, Saiidnia said. Wind screens will also be installed.
Cliff Chambers, Mountain View’s pickleball club board president, told the Voice that the Clyde property was a good site for a pickleball facility, despite the windy conditions and being a bit isolated.
“I think it worked out well,” he said. “We’re never going to have 100% agreement.”
