Elizabeth City adds rules, parking fixes as pickleball court use surges

Pickleball’s surge at 300 Cedar Street has reached the point where the city is managing traffic, access and neighborhood tension as much as court time. In an April 21 memo, City Manager Reginald Goodson and Parks and Recreation Director Stacy Williams laid out a set of fixes for the Elizabeth Street Tennis and Pickleball Court facility, including two portable restrooms, new parking controls and posted rules.

The courts were resurfaced and repurposed in 2024, and the city says the site has become a heavily used amenity for players of all skill levels. That popularity has also created friction across the street, where a childcare facility sits near the courts. At a city council meeting on Monday, March 9, council members raised concerns about blocked daycare access, unauthorized parking in private spaces and other uses of private property that had become a problem around the site.

To address those complaints, the parks department added one standard portable restroom and one ADA-compliant unit, posted facility-specific rules, designated loading and unloading zones and restriped parking spaces to improve visibility and organization. The memo said the work was done with help from the Elizabeth City Police Department and Public Utilities, turning what could have been a routine recreation update into a broader operations fix for a court complex under pressure.

The changes show how quickly a popular pickleball site can outgrow its original setup. Elizabeth City first painted pickleball lines on three of the four tennis courts in 2021 as a temporary solution, then held a fall 2023 community meeting that drew about 30 citizens as officials weighed a more permanent project. City estimates for resurfacing ranged from $60,000 to $118,000, and Sentara provided a $30,000 grant in fiscal year 2022-23 to help fund the courts. Local reporting later put the resurfacing cost at about $60,000 overall.

The court complex has also become a gathering place beyond casual play. A Paddle Battle tournament at the Cedar and Harney streets site drew 44 participants, more than 30 spectators and raised $5,000 for Arts of the Albemarle and Area of Aging, a reminder that the same courts now serve league players, event organizers and first-time visitors alike.

The April 21 memo also included a parking-lot quote from Stevenson Sand, Inc. totaling $39,146, signaling that Elizabeth City is looking beyond temporary controls. For players, that means the courts remain open and active, but the visit now comes with a clearer set of expectations, from where to park to where to unload, as the city works to keep the sport growing without letting the surrounding block break under the pressure.