Pickleball Court Hours Extended as Council Mulls Budget Woes

Hermosa Beach City Council voted Tuesday night to expand operating hours at the Kelly Courts pickleball facility, approving daily play from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. starting when the renovated courts reopen at the end of April. The 3-2 vote came against a backdrop that gave the revenue arguments real weight: earlier the same evening, the council had worked through a mid-year budget presentation showing a $548,000 general fund shortfall and a structural deficit that one council member called "five to ten million dollars in interim problems."

The city recently completed a major capital renovation of the Kelly Courts facility – a public commenter pegged the cost at $1.2 million, though staff didn't dispute or confirm the figure – and the question before the council was how aggressively to monetize it. Staff projected that daily hours would generate roughly $79,800 in annual revenue, nearly double the $42,900 projected under the status quo. Council also voted unanimously to raise the hourly reservation rate from $9 to $15 and annual resident memberships from $19 to $25.

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission had recommended the cautious path in February: keep hours as they are, let the four courts run for 120 days, and see what happens. But the residents who turned out Tuesday night were overwhelmingly on the other side. Speaker after speaker told the council they had spent years driving to El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, and Redondo Beach to play while Hermosa's courts sat restricted or shut down. One commenter, a 30-year South Bay resident, called the limited hours "wrong" given the investment the city had made. Another suggested the city could be charging even more -- noting that Glendale was pricing tennis court reservations at $25 an hour, while Hermosa had been charging $9. A third proposed opening non-resident memberships with tiered pricing to grow the revenue base further.

Against that chorus, two neighbors spoke in opposition, raising the familiar concern about noise -- the courts sit in a quiet valley near Clark Complex, and a 2019 sound study had recommended a 12-foot acoustic barrier that was never built. What stands in its place is a windscreen, which staff confirmed is not a noise-attenuating product.

One speaker, Geraldine P., pushed back on the procedural argument that had animated the Commission's recommendation and Council Member Ray Jackson's dissent – namely, that when council approved the renovation project, it had committed to keeping hours unchanged until impact could be assessed. Geraldine said she went looking for that commitment in the formal record and couldn't find it. She then asked Parks and Rec Director Lisa Nichols directly. Nichols's response, as relayed to the council: the hours were "never formally adopted" as a condition of the project. She also contacted Mary Young, a pickleball advisory group member, who said she was "not aware of any such agreement."

It's wrong to have the reduced hours. We made all this investment. Noise is noise. People that say that pickleball is so much worse – it's a matter of attitude or sensitivity... I see 12-year-olds competing with 60-year-olds in Manhattan Beach on a regular basis. There's nothing else like that in a community that brings together the different age groups.
(John Bauer, Hermosa resident and pickleball enthusiast)

Jackson voted no regardless, arguing the city should determine the noise impact of four courts before expanding access. Mayor Detoy joined him in dissent. The remaining three members – Council Members Saemann, Francois, and Mayor Pro Tem Keegan – carried the motion, adjusting staff's new proposed closing time from 9 p.m. to 7 p.m. and designating Fridays as free open-play for all comers, resident or not, with an eye toward farmer's market foot traffic.

A separate motion, approved unanimously, directs staff to report back to the Parks and Rec Commission within 90 days of reopening with data on usage, complaints, and noise levels.

The courts are expected to open by the end of April. At $15 an hour, the city will have a better chance of getting its money back.