On Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, a Bay Area News Group photographer stopped by Creekside Park and caught two players in the middle of a pickleball game. That was three days after the Brentwood City Council voted 5-0 on the courts' future. Most headlines that week said the council closed the courts immediately.
The motion itself, as Contra Costa News reported it, ties the end of Creekside to one specific job. The courts close "as soon as they can stripe the temporary courts at Sunset Park." That makes the parking lot behind Sunset Park Athletic Complex the place to watch this fall. Whatever happens there decides where Brentwood plays until a permanent facility on Elkins Way is built, and that is still years away.
The vote was tied to a paint job
Councilmember Jovita Mendoza's motion had four parts. It set aside $1.72 million for a new court project and closed Creekside once temporary courts at Sunset were striped. It also asked staff to review a low-impact future use for the Creekside site and to speed up the process for the new facility. During the discussion, staff said two temporary courts could be open in about two days, with more time needed to get additional nets.
A few days later, Parks and Recreation Director E. Harith Aleem Jr. told the Mercury News that the city had started ordering equipment and supplies. "Once those materials are on hand, it will take no more than a week to prepare the courts," he said, adding that staff expected "a more defined timeline next week." The Press reported in its Sept. 25 issue that no specific date had been given for the temporary courts, and the later coverage we found doesn't name one either. The special council meeting set for Oct. 5 covers personnel and closed-session matters, not pickleball. Until the city announces an opening, check directly with Brentwood Parks and Recreation before heading to either site.
How a converted basketball court got here
Creekside's four courts are recent. They have also been the only dedicated public pickleball facility in Brentwood. The city's own timeline shows how the conflict built:
- FY 2020/21–2021/22. The courts were named a Strategic Initiative in the city's strategic plan. Construction was then delayed by the pandemic.
- August 2024. The courts opened. The project turned the site's former full basketball court into four regulation pickleball courts with lighting.
- Shortly after opening. The city changed parking access, improved signage, added accessibility upgrades and installed lighting controls meant to discourage unpermitted nighttime play.
- March 25, 2025. The council cut hours from 7 a.m.–9 p.m. to 7 a.m.–7 p.m. and had staff lock and unlock the gates every day. According to The Press, the council also looked at gear restrictions and reservations but considered them hard to enforce, and it chose shorter hours as the cost-effective option.
- August 12, 2025. The council kept those hours, asked for an update in a year, and told staff to look for court sites away from homes.
- July 2025 to July 2026. Police call logs show repeated after-hours activity, including noise complaints, groups entering after closing and people climbing the fence.
- Sept. 21, 2026. The council voted 5-0 to move the courts.
Mayor Susannah Meyer summed up the city's view at the meeting:
"We've tried to mitigate the noise. We've tried to mitigate the hours. We've tried to do what we can to please both sides."
What the Sunset Park courts will be
Mercury News reported six temporary courts at Sunset. The council's direction allows four to six, and the final layout hasn't been decided. Either way, it would be the first time since 2024 that Brentwood has more than four public courts in one place.
The playing surface is a step down. Staff told the council the temporary courts will be painted on parking-lot asphalt, not sport court surfacing, so they will not be "easy on the knees." Staff estimated setup at about $10,000. They also mentioned that temporary courts tried in the past didn't get much use. The lot is next to the vacant city parcel at 2251 Elkins Way, which staff describe as separated from residential neighborhoods and in the northeast part of Brentwood.
Where to find a court in the meantime
Here are the public options the research turned up for the weeks before Sunset opens and the months after:
| Location | Courts | Type | Latest reported status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creekside Park, Brentwood | 4 | Dedicated, lighted | Closure depends on Sunset striping; confirm with the city |
| Sunset Park Athletic Complex, back lot | 4 to 6 planned | Temporary, striped asphalt | Supplies being ordered; no opening date in coverage we found |
| Pioneer Park, Brentwood | Basketball court | Shared use with portable equipment | Listed by the city as a shared-use option |
| Discovery Bay Community Center, 1601 Discovery Bay Blvd. | 12 | Dedicated | Town lists court rentals; check current drop-in terms |
| Willow Pass Community Park, Concord | 14 | Dedicated, lighted | Open-court hours posted on a rotating calendar |
Pioneer Park is the only other city-run option in Brentwood right now. The city keeps portable pickleball equipment so the basketball court there can be set up for recreational play.
For dedicated courts, the closest large facility is in Discovery Bay. Brentwood's staff report calls its 12 courts at the Community Center one of the bigger public pickleball investments in the region. The Town of Discovery Bay's rental page says facility use is generally first-come, first-served, with reservations recommended. The town's posted fee schedule lists court rentals at $6 an hour for residents and $9 an hour for nonresidents, per court. That schedule was last revised in July 2021, so call ahead to confirm current rates.
Concord's Willow Pass Community Park has 14 lighted courts. Brentwood's staff report counts it among the largest pickleball venues in Northern California. Concord doesn't post fixed drop-in hours. It publishes an open-court summary and a reserved-court calendar, updates them Mondays and Thursdays, and notes they can change without notice. According to Brentwood's staff report, Oakley and Antioch mostly offer pickleball on shared-use or multipurpose courts, or through scheduled indoor recreation programs.
Why the permanent courts are still years out
The temporary courts are a stopgap because the permanent plan takes a while. Staff picked a city-owned, vacant parcel at 2251 Elkins Way, north of Sunset Park Athletic Complex and east of the Wastewater Treatment Plant. They priced two versions of a six-court, commercial-grade facility. The basic version comes to $1,020,081. The enhanced version comes to $1,726,871 and adds Musco lighting, shade over picnic tables, landscaping with shade trees and more seating. The $1.72 million the council set aside lines up with the enhanced estimate. Staff will still return to the council to settle what the courts include.
Staff estimate 18 to 24 months for design, bidding and construction. No completion date has been set. Even if that clock had started on the night of the Sept. 2026 vote, the math wouldn't reach the end of construction before 2028, so the Sunset lot could be the city's main public pickleball site for a long time.
The Sand Creek Sports Complex doesn't shorten the wait. At the meeting, Vice Mayor Pa'Tanisha Pierson asked whether it would have pickleball courts. Staff said the original design did, but they were removed and food trucks will go in that spot instead. Phase 1B is planned to include multi-use courts that could host pickleball with some modification. Councilmember Faye Maloney also suggested looking at private operators for indoor pickleball.
Creekside's next use is still undecided
The Sept. 21 staff report gave the council two long-term options for Creekside. One is to keep pickleball with adjusted hours. The other is to repurpose the space for basketball, futsal, tennis or another court sport. Staff estimated a switch back to basketball at $5,000 to $10,000 and said they knew of no noise complaints from when it was a basketball court. The council hasn't made a final decision on reuse.
Players are pushing back. The Brentwood Creekside Pickleball Club says it has 160 members, and it has asked the council to reconsider and is circulating a petition. In a NextDoor post quoted by The Press, player Kelly Reddell put the city's investment at about $408,000. The mayor replied that "that money is spent whether the courts stay or go," and pointed to the $1.7 million set aside and the temporary courts promised in the meantime. The $408,000 figure comes from residents. The city's 2023 bid listing for the project showed a $317,000 engineer's estimate, and the final cost isn't part of the public record we reviewed.
No reconsideration item has shown up on a council agenda so far. For now, the lines going down on the Sunset lot are what will move Brentwood pickleball out of Creekside.
Have questions about how changes like this affect daily life in Brentwood? The Lucas Group follows these local decisions closely and is glad to talk through what they mean for your part of town. When you're ready, reach out and Get in Touch.
