Rough Draft has learned that a controversial pickleball contract discussion has been taken off the May 12 Tucker City Council agenda.
The agenda, which was updated in the city’s website, no longer lists the contract discussion on it as of 5:30 p.m. Friday. Sources told Rough Draft that the deletion is “merely procedural,” and that it will return to the agenda at a June meeting.
A Facebook post the city of Tucker said the decision “follows a resident’s inquiry, prompting the City to undertake additional due diligence regarding the qualifications of the proposed contractor for court construction. “
“Additionally, this allows for further exploration of alternative sound mitigation solutions and funding strategies to ensure successful project completion within the Fiscal Year 26 budget,” the post said.
According to a staff memo, the revised $3 million plan, which would be built on a multi-purpose field at the Tucker Recreation Center, calls for six pickleball courts, additional parking, and other amenities. It recommends the contract be awarded to Complete Site, LLC, which was the low bidder when the council was considering the construction last year.
The six-court option plan came as a surprise to pickleball opponents, since Tucker City Manager John McHenry told the council in April that funds for the complex were no longer included in the 2026 capital improvements budget since the council hadn’t made a decision on whether to move forward.
“Based on feedback from the community meeting held on November 7, 2024 meeting, and staff and officials, we expanded the recreational opportunities to include tennis and basketball, as well as a small area that may include sand volleyball and bocce courts,” a staff memo about the plan said.
The revised plan, according to the memo, will add “sound mitigation measures (Acoustiblok screening on each court) to the project to help further combat possible noise effects.”
Opponents to the courts likened the revised plan to putting “lipstick on a pig.”
“The memorandum suggests that this is a new and improved complex, with the addition of one basketball court, one tennis court, a sand volleyball court and two bocce ball courts, while keeping only six pickleball courts,” according to a Facebook post by TRC -Pickleball – Tucker, Ga.
“Don’t be taken in by this blatant and ridiculous sleight of hand,” the post continued. “There is NO fundamental change to the design, as the basketball and tennis courts are merely lipstick on a pig. Each can and will be converted to full-time pickleball after the installation is complete.”
Sam Ulrich, who lives a half-mile from the proposed complex, and supports its construction, said “the pickleball community has been excited to work with the city to bring a project to reality, which incorporates input from the community, while still meeting the needs identified by the recently updated Parks Master Plan.”
“The original plan included almost exclusively pickleball courts, parking and a pavilion, with no sound mitigation. The community presented their strong feedback, so an alternative site study and sound study were completed,” Ulrich said. “Because of this, the design was changed to implement more sound mitigation but keep the same number of courts. The community continued to give feedback that there were other activities that also needed more space than are available in Tucker, and so the plan was changed again to include basketball, tennis, sand volleyball and bocce courts.”
Ulrich said he feels that the pro-pickleball community supports the downsized six-court version.
“Everyone on the pickleball side of this call and response exercise is ecstatic with the current proposal, even though it is a far cry from what was originally planned, while the detractors are still just as unhappy as ever,” he said.
Rebecca Gross, an outspoken critic of the proposal, said the city is trying to disguise its intention to line each court for pickleball play.
They are trying to make it look like they are compromising with us by saying there will be a basketball court, a tennis court, etc. Please know that they fully intend to line off everything for pickleball as well,” Gross said in a message sent to Rough Draft Atlanta. “As it will be first-come, first-serve, the pickleball players will monopolize the courts and we will still have 12 courts.”
Neighbors on nearby Morgan Road have been opposed to the complex’s construction, complaining that the noise generated by the repetitive sound of the paddles hitting the balls and increased traffic would disrupt their quality of life.
At its April 14 meeting, The Tucker City Council heard that proposed projects for 2026 would not include $1.2 million for the controversial pickleball complex.
While presenting the city’s preliminary list of 2026 capital projects, Tucker City Manager John McHenry said the city has “not made a decision” surrounding a proposed pickleball and deferred $1.2 million previously discussed for the complex in the 2026 budget to 2027.
Gross said this latest turn of events had been “extremely stressful – [it] feels like David fighting Goliath.”
The noise pollution impact on Morgan Road remains. The sound blankets have been proven ineffective in lessening the impact on neighboring residential properties,” she said. “The excessive cost remains. This cost cannot be justified given the financial priorities of the city in the current political environment.”
A group called Voices for Balance has created a website that details the history of the project and the rationale behind their opposition to it. It also includes links to city documents and national news stories about the negative effects of pickleball complexes on nearby residents.
The city’s agenda item and supporting documents can be found here.