Ohio Residents Hope to Add Pickleball Court Construction to November Ballot

As if the November ballot didn't have enough on it, a group of citizens hopes to add 'Say NO to pickleball' to theirs.

City residents in Upper Arlington, Ohio are pushing for a November ballot measure that would let voters decide whether more tennis courts should be converted into pickleball courts at Northam Park.

To be fair, they aren't saying not to add more pickleball courts; they're pushing to stop losing their tennis courts in the process.

The petition specifies that the city council should take all necessary actions to construct two replacement courts at the Northam complex if suitable real estate becomes available.

Three courts were already converted

The petition emerged in response to the Upper Arlington City Council's decision to convert three of 12 clay tennis courts into pickleball courts. Those three clay tennis courts were converted into six new pickleball courts and a new multi-purpose facility.

The facility will feature gender-neutral restrooms and storage rooms for both the adjacent baseball fields and the remaining tennis courts.

“With the recent trends in the skyrocketing growth of the pickleball sport and the rather steady state of tennis, it made sense to convert those three (over budget) tennis courts into pickleball courts,” Upper Arlington City Manager Steve Schoeny explained, justifying the conversion.

This decision, made by the city council last fall, was met with mixed reactions from residents, especially tennis players who regularly use the Northam clay courts.

The fight began last year

Construction on the pickleball courts began in early spring, prompting residents who opposed the development to reconsider their strategy.

Upper Arlington resident and avid tennis fan Walt Thieman led last year's opposition to the courts and is now spearheading petition efforts to get a measure on the November ballot to prevent the construction of more pickleball courts.

The petition must gather 2,040 signatures by the end of June to be considered for the November ballot. If successful, the petition will be submitted to the Franklin County Board of Elections, which will verify the signatures to ensure they are valid, meaning they must be from registered voters within Upper Arlington.

"We want to prevent the loss of more of our beloved courts in the future, should the city decide to transform additional clay courts for pickleball use," Thieman said. He and others are concerned that the summer tennis league, which relies on all 12 courts to accommodate its 29 teams, will be adversely affected.

If the signatures are verified and the petition meets all other criteria, the county board of elections could approve the petition for the ballot.

Thieman remains optimistic and is committed to ensuring that this debate remains constructive and unifying. “There’s room for both (pickleball and tennis courts) of us to exist here,” he said.

“There’s absolutely no reason for this conflict to become divisive in any way.”

We agree. We hope you get your way tennis players, because fresh pickleball courts are always far nicer than converting tennis courts. Good luck!