City planning staff is recommending approval of a proposal to add an outdoor pickleball and padel facility at Hotel Dena, a five-story hotel next to the Pasadena Convention Center.
In a staff report, the Planning & Community Development Department urged the city’s hearing officer to approve a Conditional Use Permit for “Premier Pickleball Pasadena” at 303 Cordova St., along with a minor permit to allow outdoor sports lighting within 300 feet of a residential zoning district.
The hearing officer will hear the item at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
The applicant, Eagle TRS 2 LLC, proposes eight pickleball courts and one padel court in an open, unused area on the west side of the hotel that previously served as two tennis courts.
The courts would be open to the public for a fee, with daily hours proposed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to the report.
The project includes court surfacing and netting, perimeter fencing and 20 outdoor light fixtures mounted at about 18 feet, along with two single-story, shipping-container-style structures of about 160 square feet each for check-in and retail, and for restrooms and storage.
Staff said the additions would raise the site’s floor-area ratio only slightly — from about 1.59 to 1.60 — and the proposed structures would stand about eight feet, six inches tall.
The site is a 2.28-acre parcel with more than 300 hotel rooms and a below-grade parking facility that provides 424 spaces, the report said.
The hotel is bordered by Green Street to the north, Euclid Avenue to the east, Cordova Street to the south and Marengo Avenue to the west. Multi-family residential uses sit to the south and east, while the convention center is to the north.
Because a multifamily residential zoning district is about 250 feet south across Cordova Street, the city requires a minor conditional use permit for sports-court lighting proposed within 300 feet of a residential zone, staff said.
Planning staff said the applicant submitted a photometric study indicating light would be contained on-site, with “no or a negligible amount” reaching adjacent properties to the south. The staff report also said the lighting would be “full cutoff” and designed to minimize light pollution and glare.
The hearing officer may approve the permits only after making required findings that the use complies with zoning and the general plan and would not be detrimental to nearby residents or businesses, staff said. Conditions recommended by staff include limiting operating hours to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., requiring lights to remain off outside operating hours, and restricting amplified sound to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with speakers not oriented toward the south property line.
The report said the Department of Transportation required a Local Mobility Analysis after forecasting the project would generate about 298 daily vehicle trips.
The analysis found no transportation impacts and no negative effect on the city’s active transportation system, staff said.
Staff said the proposal would add roughly 360 square feet, keep improvements within the footprint of the existing parking facility, and would not expand the size of the existing open-space area.
Planning staff also said no tree removal is proposed. A tree inventory identified eight trees on or near the project area, including two protected trees, and recommended a condition requiring a tree protection plan during building permit review.
If approved, the permit would need to be enacted within 36 months, or it would expire, the conditions state.
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