Udall Park pickleball players protest Tucson plan to add court fees

Tucson’s Udall Park pickleball scene is staring at a hard stop: if the city’s fee plan passes, the free public courts many players have treated like a neighborhood fixture will switch to managed, pay-to-play status on July 1, 2026. The proposed resident charge is $3.50 per court for 90 minutes, which works out to $14 a week for someone booking four sessions, or 88 cents a player if a foursome splits the court fee.

That math is what set off the backlash. On April 13, players protested the change, arguing that the courts have spent the last five years functioning as an open gathering place, not a revenue stream. By April 16, the argument had drawn a packed crowd to Udall Park, where more than 200 people showed up and many said they felt ignored as the city pushed ahead.

Tucson Area Pickleball board member Leonard Finkel said the courts feel like family and faulted the city for sounding as if the decision had already been made before users were fully heard. The nonprofit has put about $60,000 into Udall Park over time, including shade structures, benches, nets and water stations, and opponents see the fee plan as a reversal of a community-built model that already delivered improvements without a paywall.

The city’s case is financial. Parks and Recreation Director Lara Hamwey has said the change is meant to generate revenue for long-term maintenance and improvements, and city materials say an internal cost-of-service analysis found many current fees do not fully cover program and facility costs. The broader fee package was initiated by Mayor and Council on April 7, with a notice of intent issued April 8. Officials held six in-person community meetings and one virtual meeting between April 9 and April 20, kept the comment portal open through May 17, and scheduled a public hearing for June 9 before the proposed July 1 start date.

Udall Park is listed in the city’s sports-fee slides alongside Fort Lowell, Reffkin and Himmel as a managed pickleball site. The same proposal would also raise the non-resident surcharge from 25% to 50% above the resident rate. Councilmember Paul Cunningham, who also plays, has urged a middle ground instead of an all-or-nothing fight, suggesting the city could preserve open play while still recovering some costs.

That tension lands harder because Udall Park is already heading for a wave of Proposition 407 bond-funded upgrades, including two covered basketball courts, expanded parking, a destination playground with shade, LED lighting upgrades, two new lighted soccer fields, softball fencing renovation and new restrooms. The fee fight is no longer just about pickleball court time. It is about whether Tucson’s most popular public recreation spaces stay broadly accessible or start sliding toward controlled access and paid reservations.