Mountain View Approves Indoor Pickleball Facility, Expanding Bay Area Options

More than 50 letters landed on Mountain View's zoning administrator's desk before the hearing even opened, all of them making the same basic argument: the city's nine courts at Rengstorff Park aren't enough. On March 16, the city's zoning administrator agreed, approving plans for Ten Zero Sport's single-court indoor facility at 838 Independence Ave., a vacant warehouse near the Palo Alto border that owner Chris Robinson intends to convert into the area's newest year-round pickleball destination.

Robinson had spelled out his vision in a letter to the city ahead of the approval. The facility would offer public reservations and instructional coaching, and it would do something no other court in Mountain View or Palo Alto currently does: allow coaches to book time without requiring them to join a club first. That last detail drew particular attention from the broader pickleball community, which turned out in force to back the project.

"I'm just excited to get the court open and have people use it," Robinson said at a March 11 hearing.

The support crossed city lines. David Siegel, president of the Palo Alto Pickleball Club board of directors, urged the zoning administrator to approve the project, arguing that a private indoor option would relieve pressure on the public courts that Mountain View's casual and first-time players depend on most. Siegel described that group as the population most at risk of being shut out from the sport entirely.

That pressure is real. Mountain View currently offers just three dedicated pickleball courts and six shared courts outdoors at Rengstorff Park. City officials have been actively looking to expand those public offerings but have run into resistance over site selection, a dynamic illustrated by a simultaneous neighborhood campaign to keep pickleball out of Cuesta Park and its annex.

Against that backdrop, Ten Zero Sport's warehouse conversion represents a different path: private capital filling a gap the public system hasn't been able to close. The March 16 approval clears Robinson to move forward with construction, though a projected opening date has not yet been confirmed.