Mooty Pickleball Court Improvements

BACKGROUND

In 2015, the Mooty Family approached city staff with the idea to donate funds to construct Edina’s first dedicated pickleball courts. The donation was proposed in honor of his late father John Mooty and his late uncle Melvin Mooty. At its August 15, 2015 City Council meeting the proposed donation was accepted. The site of the courts is on West 64th St on the north side of Rosland Park abutting CR 62, located between the Edina Aquatic Center and the Edina Art Center.

The five dedicated pickleball courts sit adjacent to two tennis courts that are infrequently used for that purpose. The tennis courts are striped for crossover pickleball usage and are primarily used for pickleball. In 2023 and 2024 city staff worked with players to monitor the tennis courts on the type of usage it received. Those observations of both staff and park users were that the tennis court use was almost entirely for overflow pickleball play. Since the Mooty Pickleball Courts were built they have been exceedingly popular as this multigenerational sport continues to see exponential growth.

IMPROVEMENT PLAN

The Mooty Family and foundations have approached city staff with a donation idea to expand and upgrade the courts. This donation would be for one project, completed in two phases of work to expand and improve the courts for pickleball.

Phase I

First, the work would expand the existing tennis court space to the north approximately 11’, providing for 6 dedicated pickleball courts. The northerly expansion is required to ensure adequate safety zones are established for the sport. Each court would have dedicated fencing and gating to allow for containment of play.

Phase II

Second and after the completion of the first phase, the existing pickleball courts would be upgraded to go from 5 courts to 4 courts, to install dedicated fencing and gating between the courts, also for containment of play.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The result of this project would be to go from 5 dedicated pickleball courts and a less than ideal 4 pickleball/2 tennis combination overlay, to 10 dedicated high-end pickleball courts. Work includes the expansion, removals, repaving, adding fencing and gates, color coating and replacing net posts and netting. There are minor improvements that are the city’s responsibility in the project that would also occur at the site related to the fencing of the existing tennis/pickleball court portion that would be completed during this project.

FUTURE PROJECTS

Upon completion of this project and in the near future, staff would further improve the area by installing a wind screen for the new courts and a shaded gathering area for players and park users to sit and relax out of the sun. As the CR 62 pedestrian bridge replacement project moves forward, staff would work with that project to bring electrical power near the courts to install an outdoor AED station like the one at Pamela Park. Expansion of AED stations in high use areas of our park system is a goal of the Parks & Recreation Department. Also, a permanent restroom and parking improvements are high priorities at this location along with a potential for lighting of the courts.