Millersburg approves three enclosed pickleball courts beside City Hall

Millersburg moved pickleball one step closer to City Hall on April 23, approving Site Development Review SP 26-01 for three enclosed courts at 4222 NE Old Salem Road. The decision turns a patch of civic ground beside Millersburg City Hall into a test case for how a small Oregon city handles the sport now that enthusiasm has to pass through land-use review, design conditions and neighborhood scrutiny.

The approval was not a quick rubber stamp. Notice of the tentative decision went out on April 2 to property owners within 100 feet of the site, and the city received comments from six parties, including four residents, the Albany Fire Department and one pickleball association. The final decision says staff found the project met the relevant criteria and standards after reviewing the city’s Comprehensive Plan, codes and ordinances, and it added conditions tied to the comments that came in during the process. That kind of treatment matters for pickleball projects, because the same courts that players see as needed infrastructure also raise familiar local questions about parking, traffic flow, noise and environmental impact.

The site’s zoning helped the proposal move forward. The land sits in the Public Facilities district, where public parks are a permitted use, so the court project proceeded as an administrative land-use review rather than a political fight. Even so, the process still included a 14-day neighbor comment period and appeal rights to the Planning Commission and then the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, underscoring how formally Millersburg now handles recreation projects that once might have been viewed as simple amenities.

The city’s own planning history shows why these courts are being treated as more than an afterthought. Millersburg’s Parks Master Plan, completed in April 2020, says community input played an important role in shaping the future of parks planning, and it traces the city’s recreation buildout from its first park development in 1980 to Acorn Park in 2006 and Talking Waters Garden in 2010. The staff report for SP 26-01 says that master plan identified a need for pickleball courts in Millersburg, and that the City Council and Parks Commission both directed staff to prioritize development of those courts.

Operationally, the project is still evolving. The city’s project page says the final design may include two courts rather than three, and restrooms are not planned in this phase, though they could come later. Materials were sent on April 6 to the Albany Fire Department, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office and the city engineer, even though no comments from those agencies had been received at the time of the staff report.

For players, the clearest sign of demand came from the Albany Pickleball Club, which said it has more than 190 active members in the Millersburg and Albany area. In a town this size, that kind of regional turnout explains why a court project beside City Hall is being handled like civic infrastructure, not just a new place to dink.