The pickleball players who frequent the courts at Morris K. Udall Park are angry. The courts are currently free, but the city is considering charging $3.50 per 90 minutes of use.
It doesn’t seem like much until you count up what’s really at stake.
“The bigger story is that Udall is unique in that there’s no pickleball community like this in Tucson. In other states, even in Phoenix, pickleball is free and this is the only place in the city where we have such an inclusive community environment. We have 84-year-olds playing with pre-teens,” Lynell Ciranna said.
“It’s a unique place because even if you’re old and alone and you want to play pickleball, you can come and put your paddle up with people you don’t know and anyone will play with you. We care about each other. … Nowhere else is that happening.”
On April 18, the city held an open house at the William M. Clements Recreation Center, where department representatives explained proposed across-the-board fee increases. People from the transportation, water and parks and recreation departments were among those available to explain the proposed changes.
It was Parks and Recreation Director Lara Hamwey, however, who members of Tucson Area Pickleball (TAP) wanted to speak with.
“I’m here because we are dead set against the city charging fees for pickleball,” said Leonard Finkel, a TAP board member and avid Udall courts regular.
TAP was instrumental in getting the city to build the courts, Finkel said, but after construction there was no money for maintenance. Over the last several years, the group paid for:
A shade structure in 2022 ($23,700)
Eight concrete benches in 2023 ($20,800)
A water bottle filler station in 2024 ($6,480)
12 pickleball nets in 2024-2025 ($1,748)
Court supplies including a paddle rack, windsocks and squeegees in 2021-2026 ($1,000)
Other expenses loom as well. The courts have not been resurfaced since they were built six years ago — a job that would cost more than $36,000. Finkel said the city has been open to discussing cost sharing. But, he said, “all this time they’re negotiating with us for us to pay, they already know that they’re trying to charge.”
TAP also wants to erect a windscreen along the side of the courts that border a dog park. And since the courts have never been professionally cleaned, the group was prepared to take over that expense too. A Phoenix company quoted $780 per visit for regular cleanings, and the city has approved the arrangement — but TAP is holding off until a decision is made on the proposed fee.
Hamwey said the decision rests with City Council, not her, which is why TAP has scheduled an appointment with Councilmember Greg Jackson.
Finkel said that if the city moves forward with the fee, TAP will pack up their paddles and play elsewhere.
That reaction did not surprise Hamwey — and she said it isn’t entirely a bad thing.
“I know we have a very passionate pickleball community,” she said. “I’m very aware they want more courts. I think that that is a fair response. The one thing I would say is even though folks feel like discussing fees is a bit of a shock, it does bring people in to educate us more, to give us information that we might not have but then also to potentially open up other pathways.”
Tucson City Council will make the decision June 9, and if approved, the fee would take effect July 1.