FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The City of Fort Collins is one step closer to constructing a new outdoor pickleball facility.
Fossil Creek Community Park has been chosen as the most ideal location for a 12-court facility dedicated to pickleball, as the city looks to address a need for more dedicated courts.
Right now, there are 54 courts in the Fort Collins area but only eight are dedicated to pickleball. The others are painted lines on tennis, basketball, and hockey surfaces.
Russ Cowart knows that Fort Collins has a hunger for community centered around recreation. As president of the Fort Collins Pickleball Club, he understands the city's desire for more courts.
"I think the pickleball scene has changed dramatically since COVID. Previously, it was mostly people over 55 who played indoors a lot at the senior center. Now it's blown up. Our club has over 1,700 members," said Cowart.
The Fort Collins Pickleball Club is a nonprofit social club that aims to provide a sense of community through pickleball.
"So, we rent courts for open play. We provide ladder leagues, lessons, and tournaments — those kinds of things for people who join the club," said Cowart.
In addition to his club's 1,700 members, Coward said there are a ton of recreational players in the Fort Collins area, highlighting a need for more space to play.
"We see lots of groups of 20 and 30-year-olds playing after work. We see moms with their middle school kids playing down at some of the courts down south. We see college kids taking over the courts near the university. So a really wide range of people at this point," said Cowart.
That's why Cowart began working with the city to build the new facility. The insight of the FoCo Pickleball Club was welcomed by city officials, and the club even funded the project's feasibility assessment.
"It's great that they're listening and that they understand that it's not just a bunch of old people in the senior center, that it really is community building," said Cowart.
The city gauged public opinion on the need for more courts, and the feedback indicated that the community would benefit from the facility.
One main concern — and one that has closed pickleball courts in the Denver metro area — is noise. That's why Fort Collins made sure to think about noise-mitigation techniques and setting the courts away from homes during their feasibility study.
"They did all their due diligence related to not only sound but parking, bike trail, access, civil engineering, flooding, all the stuff that they do as a city, and that's how they're coming up with one or two suggested venues," said Cowart.
The finalized venue, Fossil Creek Community Park, waits on public opinion and funding. The city is in the process of analyzing feedback on its choice of location. Should the public's opinion stay positive, the city will move onto the funding process.
If you'd like to stay informed on the progress, you can go to the City of Fort Collins' website.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.