New pickleball court causes controversy in east Charlotte neighborhood

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Sheffield Park in east Charlotte has undergone a transformation, and neighbors and a county commissioner are questioning it.

The full-length basketball court has been at the park for years. Recently it was replaced with a $22,000 pickleball court. Park and Recreation said it started informing neighbors about the change back in June, but neighbors claim they didn’t receive a notice about it.

“Nobody communicated anything, until all of a sudden, I saw construction workers doing some transformation,” neighbor Alicia Lalone said.

Instead of the full basketball court, neighbors must settle using the half basketball courts located at Sheffield Park. Neighbors think that option isn’t fair.

“The people who were here first,” neighbor Matt Walsh said. “Sends a horrible message, like they are not going to come back and play basketball. And look at the shape of this court; there’s a crater in the middle of that court. That’s what they have now.”

Park and Recreation claims the community had an opportunity to offer feedback about the switch. Some east-side neighbors are embracing the new pickleball court.

“Just started yesterday for the second time,” neighbor Kris Gafford said. “It’s a great workout, love doing it, hanging out with the guys and play.”

While some are enjoying the new court, county commissioner Mark Jerrell is concerned. He wasn’t aware of the change and said residents have reached out to him about it.

They argue it looks like the county is choosing one population that is embracing pickleball over another population that enjoys playing basketball on a full court.

“Well it seems to me that some of the neighbors may be questioning what was the intent behind the change,” Jerrell said. “Personally, I don’t feel like there was a nefarious attempt, but I would have to admit that looking from the outside in if I didn’t have all the information, the optics don’t necessarily look good.”

Jerrell believes there should have been more community dialogue.

“In these situations what we have to do is make sure that we are communicating effectively,” Jerrell said. “We have to have that high level of dialogue so that people can understand.”

Jerrell will show up at a meeting Thursday night to hear from neighbors. He said he is open to changing things back despite the fact the pickleball court has been set up

“I’m not going to say that we can’t unring the bell at this point,” the commissioner said. “We have to do what the community wants.”

The commissioner applauds county staff for their hard work but thinks a better job could have been done to alert neighbors. Jerrell said he didn’t even know about the pickleball court and he represents the area.

“I want to be able to extend grace, particularly to our staff,” he said. “When they get it right 99% of the time and we do have a miss, I don’t want that to be the swan song for them. I support them but there are times when I have to push back.”

Officials said they plan to set up 55 more pickleball courts throughout the county.

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