Nine court pickleball club on Whittemore Street returns to Gloucester's zoning board Thursday, with parking the big question

A plan to turn an office property at 36 Whittemore St. in Gloucester into a nine court indoor pickleball club goes back before the city's Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday, Oct. 8.

The biggest question at the first hearing, on Aug. 27, was parking. The plan offers 39 spaces. Board members said the city's zoning rules would call for about 160.

What is proposed

The applicant, 36 Whittemore St LLC, wants two special permits, according to the board's minutes. One would change the use of the property from offices to a health club. The other would let it have fewer parking spaces than the zoning requires.

Lawyer Megan Breaker described the plan at the August hearing:

• Both buildings now on the lot would be torn down and replaced.
• A main building of just under 17,000 square feet, on two floors, would hold six courts, locker rooms, a recovery area and a cafe.
• A second building of just over 7,000 square feet would hold three more courts and a front desk.
• Each court takes about 1,900 square feet and holds two to four players.
• The cafe could later seek a beer and wine license.

Dale Broach of Rockport, who told the board he is leading the project, said there are two buildings instead of one because a gas line runs through the middle of the property. He said nine courts are needed to make the club pay for itself.

The property

The lot covers 1.16 acres in the city's General Industrial district. The city's assessor lists two brick buildings, both first built around 1900:

• A one story office building with about 7,400 square feet of finished space, plus a finished utility area and an unfinished basement. The assessor dates its last major update to about 1971. It has central air conditioning and gas heat.
• A two story brick warehouse of about 2,200 square feet, with a loading platform, last updated about 1966.

About 19,300 square feet of the lot is paved. The property is assessed at $853,000 this year, up from $810,300 last year.

The assessor lists the owner as Scotland Properties LLC, which took ownership in 2002. The city sends the tax bill in care of the Eagle Tribune's tax department, at an office in Montgomery, Ala. Breaker told the board her clients would lease the site from their landlord. She described the property as the former home of the Gloucester Daily Times, and the assessor's notes still label the two buildings that way.

In this district, a business like a health club needs a special permit from the zoning board. Section 4.1.2 of the zoning rules lets the board approve fewer parking spaces than required if the owner shows the smaller number still works.

The parking debate

The plan counts 23 spaces on the lot and 16 more on the landlord's property next door, across a private drive. Breaker said a few more spaces might fit after a fire truck access review.

Board member Michael Nimon said the request was for "39 versus 160." He said the board could not count spaces that might be added later. He estimated about 18 cars for the courts alone, plus cafe customers, people watching and staff, and called 39 spaces "an aggressive ask."

Another board member said the closest match in the zoning rules is a bowling alley, which needs one space for every 100 square feet. He asked whether the second building was needed. Member Ronald Wilson said that when one group of players arrives as another leaves, "you could have 72 cars." Board members asked for real numbers from other pickleball clubs before they decide.

Breaker said a full traffic study was not needed but that her clients would bring more data.

Hours, noise and the cafe

The hours are not set. Breaker suggested something like 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Broach told the board he expects 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the cafe likely closing by 8 p.m.

Breaker said the buildings would be air conditioned, with no open windows and no outdoor courts. She said an outdoor seating area on the plans was added by the architects and is not for the cafe.

What neighbors said

Seven people spoke in favor and 15 against, the minutes show.

Supporters, many of them players from Gloucester, Rockport and Essex, said they now drive out of town to play and that indoor court time on Cape Ann is hard to find. One neighbor said a club would be better than heavy truck traffic.

Opponents, many from Whittemore Street, Riverside Avenue, Gloucester Avenue and Curtis Square, said the streets are narrow and already full of parked cars. They raised safety for children and pets, fire truck access, noise, alcohol, early and late hours, and spaces next door that customers of nearby businesses already use. Several said they did not get notice of the hearing.

City Councilor Marjorie Grace, who represents Ward 3, spoke against the plan. She said the zoning rules also require a parking space for every three cafe customers, and no one had said how many seats the cafe would have. A lawyer for a neighboring property owner argued the rules would call for about 240 spaces.

A fast growing sport

Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the country, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, a trade group that surveys about 18,000 Americans a year. It counted 24.3 million players in 2025, up from about 4.2 million in 2020. That is a 171.8% jump in just three years.

Indoor clubs nearby

Private indoor courts have opened elsewhere on the North Shore:

• Danvers: The Picklr, part of a national chain, opened 12 indoor courts in October 2025 in the former Bed Bath & Beyond across from Liberty Tree Mall, at 189 Endicott St. The building is about 36,000 square feet. The chain also has a club in Burlington.
• Newburyport: Newburyport Brewing Co. rents two indoor, climate controlled courts at 4 New Pasture Road for $48 an hour per court, with up to eight players a court.
• Peabody: Life Time's Northshore club offers court reservations to members.

Supporters at the August hearing said Cape Ann players now drive to clubs like the one in Danvers.

What comes next

The board kept the public hearing open and voted 5 to 0 to continue it to Oct. 8, at Breaker's request, so her clients could meet with neighbors and consider design changes.

The board meets Thursday at 7 p.m. in Kyrouz Auditorium on the second floor of City Hall, 9 Dale Ave., and on Zoom. Joseph Parisi III chairs the board. Filed plans are not posted online; the city says to ask the board's clerk or file a public records request. Questions go to the Building Inspector's office at 978-325-5210.

If the board approves the permits, Breaker said the project would go next to the city's site plan review.

See every Cape Ann meeting Wednesday and Thursday.

Update, Oct. 7, 7 a.m.: Expanded with the Aug. 27 hearing, the property record and the zoning rules. Later Oct. 7: added the sport's growth, nearby indoor clubs and more detail on the buildings from the assessor's property card, including that they were the newspaper's former home.