Boyland is the founder of the Pickleball Association of San Diego.
As San Diego reflects on its past and imagines its future, there’s one small but powerful lever that could reshape how our parks serve the public: reforming the city’s outdated system of “special-use permits.”
Special-use permits are long-term agreements the city grants to select nonprofits, giving them exclusive control over public sports facilities for years at a time. Unlike day-use permits that anyone can request for a single event, these permits function more like private leases — the operator manages the site, collects revenue and sets the rules. But unlike leases, they’re rent-free and involve no public application or competition.
With demand for recreational space growing, the city has a responsibility to modernize how it manages long-term access. Right now, the system leaves huge potential untapped.
Today, just 13 sports organizations hold these permits: 12 are tennis clubs and one is a youth baseball league. All receive rent-free control of public land for years at a time, with no public application, virtually no performance review and no opportunity for others to compete.
One additional tennis facility, Barnes Tennis Center, operates under a separate, 35-year lease with the city, paying just $600 a year for 12 acres of public land. But the common thread remains: locked-in access to prime public space with no mechanism for new applicants to apply or compete.
Our nonprofit, the Pickleball Association of San Diego, filled out a blank special-use permit form and submitted a proposal to repurpose six underused tennis courts at Robb Field into 20 pickleball courts. We proposed to cover all costs ourselves — resurfacing, fencing, an open-air clubhouse, bathrooms, maintenance, a 24-hour attendant — and offered to pay $100,000 a year in rent. By comparison, current permit holders pay no rent under the city’s system. The city’s reply was clear: there is no process for new applicants to compete for these permits.
When we inquired with the Parks and Recreation Department about applying, no clear process was provided. So, we submitted a blank permit template we found online, only to be told there was no pathway for new applicants to compete. That should raise alarms not just for pickleball players, but for anyone who believes public land should be managed transparently and in the public interest.
In June 2023, we presented a year’s worth of utilization data to the city’s Parks and Recreation Board. Using drone footage and hundreds of days of reservation logs, we found that some clubs averaged roughly one-third usage during their own operating hours — and under half at peak times. At prior meetings, Peninsula Tennis Club Chair and Barnes Board Member Todd Sprague responded that there were no city utilization requirements and that the club was in good standing under its special-use permit.
Not only is there no competition for these permits – there’s no baseline for evaluating whether they serve the public good. Several clubs operated for years without valid permits.
In one case, a club was allowed to continue operating despite failing to meet its staffing obligations under the permit. That same club regularly closed at noon on weekends, reducing public access during times of highest demand.
This isn’t a system built for the future. It’s a system designed to protect the past.
This isn’t just about pickleball. It’s about whether San Diego is willing to use facts, fairness and public benefit to govern access to public land.
Special-use permits are powerful tools, but without standards, competition or accountability, they become private entitlements. The longer the city waits to modernize this process, the more opportunities – and public benefit – are lost.
San Diego can, and should, do better.
The city should create a modern, competitive process for allocating these permits with open applications, clear public-benefit criteria, court usage tracking and regular evaluations. There should be a way to reassess who’s best equipped to serve the community.
That doesn’t mean ending partnerships that work. It simply means others should have a chance to contribute – and every inch of public space should be put to good use.
Like many other cities, San Diego needs a system that is fair, transparent and responsive to changing needs.
A more inclusive, accountable parks system isn’t just possible – it’s necessary. And the choices we make today will shape San Diego’s public spaces for the next 20 years.
Yesterday 9/15 at 9:00 I walked past empty tennis courts to play two pickleball games in an hour at the Barnes Tennis Center. There were about 25 people with paddles on the fence waiting to play. The Mayor and San Diego Parks and Rec must answer to the needs of the community. Instead of their need for friends and campaign donors
The special use permits with no rent allow tennis to also have an unfair price advantage. As a 65+ tennis player I pay $300 per year for unlimited play at my local tennis club (University City Racquet Club). In contrast, I pay either $7 or $10 every single time I play pickleball at Barnes. I play there 3-4 times per week so over $100 per month there plus also paying to play in Poway and Encinitas. I love tennis and love pickleball but this is an unfair and illogical situation especially considering 16 pickleball players can be hosted on the same space that is either empty (far too often!) or hosting 2 or 4 tennis players. It’s time for the city’s extreme discrimination in favor of tennis to be reconsidered!
I play in Coronado at the Cays and have to pay to play. Because I am not a resident I pay more. If I play at other courts such as Collier Park in La Mesa or Lakeside, which are free, I am waiting to play. In a 2 hour day of playing I am lucky to get on 5-6 games at a time. I have traveled to all 50 states and am sad to say San Diego had less open courts to play in and/or they cost more. I’ve played in very small towns that were better equipped than our large city.
In the last few years it seems as though the City is *actively* trying to disincentivize use of public spaces. Everything from using our tax dollars to fight against yoga in parks to now requiring paid parking in Balboa Park (which the most expensive parking rate per hour will be in the green space along the west side of the park, not in the tourist heavy areas like the City would like you to believe). I also find it curious that the plan for Balboa Park parking excludes *only* the north-east corner of the park with the tennis courts, but clubs located throughout the rest of the park don’t get the same courtesy. Another example of Gloria’s tennis bias possibly? The City has also made it nearly impossible for an event called Winyl to occur – which was a weekly event held at public parks that hundreds of people (locals – not tourists) would show up for to enjoy being outside in our amazing city. Why are we not trying to encourage this type of use of public spaces? Hundreds of residents gathering to enjoy public spaces – how horrible! (sarcasm) For a city where we can play outside all year long, the fact that San Diego is so far behind in investing in Pickleball courts for the community is ridiculous. I am a registered Dem, but our current city council and mayor seem intent on having a “San Diego for me, but not for thee” which is antithetical to my values as a Democrat. We need people in city leadership who are actually invested in creating a better San Diego, not adding a position to their resume to move on to their next political post. Everyone in this city should have access to parks and public spaces regardless of finances – and those parks should contain activities people enjoy and want to participate in. This is ultimately a more efficient use of resources (tax dollars) as well. The more people that use our parks and public spaces, the better the value of the tax dollars that go to maintaining those spaces.
I play daily, primarily at public Big Rock Park in Santee CA. It’s free. It only has 8 courts. There is also another public courts on Mast blvd park in Santee also public.
La Mesa has at least 2 public court locations, Collier and La Mesita. All free.
I have been to Poincettia in Carlsbad at their open public courts there are 8 of them. Its free.
Mackenzie Creek in Chula Vista has 8 courts and is expanding due to demand. All free.
I think Poway also has public courts that are free.
I know of no open play San Diego proper location for open free play.
How is it that the all other aforementioned cities (tiny by comparison to San Diego) has public free open play and city of San Diego has nothing?
The demand is huge and growing exponentially.
It sounds like you have a group with strong leadership (Stefan Boyland and his group) ready to take on this amazing endeavor and put the city of San Diego on the growing pickleball map.
Go for it San Diego!!
Our parks aren’t private clubs — reform permits now! They should serve everyone, not just a chosen few.
I agree with John above, as he cites numerous municipalities within the county that added public pickleball courts years ago and continue building more based on the overwhelming demand. The City of San Diego is WAY behind the curve when it comes to serving its constituency.
San Diego is consistently behind the curve on so many things, pickleball included. When I speak with my pickleball enthusiast friends in cities around the country, they are astounded by the (non-existent) state of municipal pickleball facilities in San Diego.
Reading this article makes me more aware of once again not doing the right thing for the community.
The game is growing faster than the city wants to admit. The resistance makes little to no sense to the public.
I would like to see the city move in a fairer direction
To apply for special-use permits should be open to anybody who has a legitimate reason for them, e.g. represent an organization that has a need to use public land. At the moment it seems like current holders can keep them forever and new sports have no chance to practice your sports.
There should be an open enrollment period for each public court/piece of land and a fair review process.
Also, befor the special-use permit expires there should be a review period if it was put to good use, e.g. utilitsation rate, so a special iterest group is not just blocking access to public courts/pieces of lands.
Parks are a public service to provide people a place to play, socialize and enjoy the outdoors. Pickleball is a low cost way to support a large number of people who otherwise would not do sports. The current permit system was created before Pickleball became a desired activity. The city needs to reset and rework the permitting to enable better park usage. The club experience is great for those who can afford it, but the city also needs lower cost alternatives.
I strongly agree with the Opinion article about the unfair situation with the permits given to tennis organizations to the total exclusion of any other sports, like pickleball, who should be allowed to compete and obtain a permit to use city land for this #1 sport in America. The demand isn’t going to fade away and our City is clearly behind the curve on what other cities of all sizes across the US are doing to accommodate the public demand for pickleball on city land.
I have been involved with PASD on an advisory basis for several years. The pushback and lack of attention we received from city departments was disappointing to say the least. Pickleball was skyrocketing in popularity and yet the City of San Diego was treating us and the sport as if we’d fade away like morning fog. We simply wanted to have realistic and fair discussions about un- and underutilized public space in order to “self fund” a Pickleball venue of scale run and managed by Pickleball enthusiasts.
What we got was mostly “status quo” favoritism given to facilities that sat unused and not living up to their permit requirements.
In the end, we were blindsided/sandbagged by Barnes Tennis Center who managed to construct more than a dozen courts in record time, effectively eliminating the need to build or share any existing facilities..
Unfortunately for Pickleball, Barnes has committed ALL revenue from Pickleball to be directed to Tennis programs..
San Diego still lacks a true Pickleball facility of scale and prestige worthy of a city such as ours.
San Diego remains an outlier within the Southwest as a “destination” for Pickleball tournaments, clubs and tourism as well.
How unfortunate..
It seems that the city of San Diego does not care about the Publics best interest, health or equality. For San Diego proper not to have any public Pickleball courts is shameful for a city of our size. When you look at Temecula who just built, I believe 22 public Pickleball courts at Ronald Regan park. We have san diego moving to Temecula and going up there to play. Then you have all the surrounding areas in San Diego that are building new courts like Vista, Carlsbad, Escondido, just a name a few, but we can’t get anything in San Diego proper. A new airport but I’ve heard people complaining that they don’t want to Uber30 minutes to go play pickle ball because we have nothing in San Diego proper so they talk bad about the city also and they don’t even live here.
Thousands of people across the county young & old are sitting in their homes by themselves, Unhealthy and lonely. They’re very capable of playing pickle ball and socializing with others, doing something for their health. They’re hundreds of tennis courts across the county unoccupied. It would be very easy to repurpose these courts for Pickle Ball to get the citizens off the couch and on the courts. Why isn’t this being done!
San Diego’s public park system is long overdue for reform — and expanding access to public courts is one of the clearest ways to make our city’s spaces more equitable and better used. Right now, just 13 organizations hold long-term “special-use permits” that give them exclusive control of public sports facilities, most of them private tennis clubs. These groups pay no rent, face no public competition, and are rarely evaluated for how well they serve the community. Meanwhile, growing demand for court space — from pickleball to youth sports — continues to go unmet. Data shows that many of these existing facilities sit underused even during peak hours, while residents are turned away or forced to drive miles for open play. This outdated system locks up public land for a privileged few, leaving little room for innovation, community access, or fair use.
Reforming this system would unlock tremendous public benefit. By creating a transparent, competitive process for managing courts — one based on performance, utilization, and community value — San Diego could dramatically expand access without costing taxpayers a dime. Groups ready to invest in court upgrades, maintenance, and programming should have the chance to do so (look at MacKenzie Creek in Chula Vista and Big Rock Park in Santee). More public courts mean more opportunities for connection, recreation, and healthy living across every neighborhood. This isn’t just about pickleball or tennis; it’s about making sure public land truly serves the public. If San Diego wants parks that reflect its future rather than protect its past, modernizing the way we allocate and manage court space is the place to start.