Pickleball court lighting for park planners

USA Pickleball's lighting page gives a goal rather than a number: "the highest level of uniform, glare-free illumination the budget allows." The numbers planners work with come from three places: the court construction manual released by the American Sports Builders Association (ASBA) and USA Pickleball, the Illuminating Engineering Society's sports lighting practice (IES RP-6; the 2015 edition, RP-6-15, is the one Andover, Conn., cites), and local zoning codes, which limit what leaves the court rather than what lands on it.

Published light levels by category

The 182-page ASBA/USA Pickleball manual has a lighting chapter but is not free to read. Its table is reproduced in a tennis-to-pickleball conversion guide from LSI, one of USA Pickleball's two lighting partners (the other is Musco), with the note "as seen in ASBA construction and maintenance manual." A brochure USA Pickleball hosts gives the same three averages.

"Maintained" figures allow for light loss as a system ages; Moreno Valley's standard, for example, designs to 0.80 of rated lamp lumens. The max/min ratio is uniformity: the brightest point divided by the darkest. A design meets a category only if it meets every row for that category, the LSI guide says.

Other targets in public documents

Where they disagree: McCracken County's 300/200 lux matches Category III's 30 fc horizontal and 20 fc vertical, and Andover's design clears Category III. Moreno Valley's older 3:1 uniformity allowance is looser than the 2.0 in the manual's recreational column.

1. Playing area, Category III (recreational): 30 fc average and 20 fc minimum horizontal, max/min 2.0, 20 fc average vertical.
2. Pole: capped at 25 ft for sports courts in Wilton's draft rule and 18 ft in Poway's code; Andover's plan uses 30-ft poles.
3. Fully shielded fixture with a visor, aimed down at the court (Wilton draft, Midway, Poway).
4. Property line: 0.20 fc at residential lines in Wilton's draft, measured 5 ft above grade; 0.5 fc above ambient in Poway.
5. DarkSky check point 150 ft beyond the court edge: at most 0.20 fc and 1,000 candela.
6. Lights off by 11 p.m. (DarkSky criteria, Wilton draft); 10 p.m. in Poway.

Poles and fixture placement

• Two layouts. USA Pickleball's partner chart sorts systems by placement, "Outside of the Courts" or "Next to the Courts," and by pole height, "Over 40ft" or "Under 30ft."
• Height caps. Wilton's draft caps sports-court poles at 25 ft (fields: 80 ft), allowing more only if it improves light control or safety, and keeps poles 50 ft from residential-district lines in the hearing text. Poway allows at most eight lights no higher than 18 ft on private courts, with the light source cut off from view above 5 ft at 10 ft from the court edge.
• Taller can mean tighter control. Moreno Valley's standards tell designers to maximize pole height to meet its environmental limits, and Wilton's exception for taller poles rests on the same idea. Caps and "go taller" advice pull in opposite directions; the code that applies decides.
• Converted tennis courts. Most lit tennis courts use 6 or 8 poles with 1 or 2 HID fixtures each, the LSI guide says, and conversions usually reuse the poles. McCracken County's bid moved six 50-ft poles from another site to Heath Park.

Glare, spill-light and curfew limits in codes

Color temperature caps range from 3,000 K (Poway) to 5,700 K (DarkSky). Fruit Heights, Utah, planning commissioners called an 11 p.m. curfew for sport lighting "reasonable" in August 2025 while drafting their own rule.

LED versus older fixtures

• Wake Forest, NC (April 2024): Flaherty Park's tennis-court lights went from 1,000-W metal halide to 450-W LED, 55% less power per fixture with more light output, for $178,511 from a 2022 bond. LEDs reach full brightness instantly; the metal halide took several minutes. Lights run 30 minutes before dusk to 10 p.m. on push-button timers, with remote on/off and dimming.
• Minnetonka, MN (2016): park staff said "LED lighting provides improved spill control and more efficient energy use" for fields near homes.
• Boston University (2014, indoor): replacing 127 metal halide fixtures in its track and tennis center was projected to save 770,000 kWh a year, 40% of the building's past use.
• Annapolis, MD: the Truxtun Park pickleball court lights project lists $381,150 in total cost and $1,500 a year for maintenance and electricity.

For full court budgets, see what cities paid for courts.

Planning steps

1. Pick the category the courts must meet: Category III (recreational, 30 fc average) or Category II (club competitions, 50 fc).
2. Find the local code: property-line limit, measuring height, pole cap, curfew, color temperature and whether a permit or hearing is needed.
3. Ask bidders for a point-by-point photometric plan showing horizontal and vertical averages, minimums and max/min ratios, plus spill at the property line.
4. Fix the court and run-off layout first (sizes on the dimensions page) so pole positions and the photometric grid match what gets built.
5. Specify controls: timers or push buttons, curfew shut-off, dimming.
6. Talk to neighbors early. Light trespass drew more complaints than noise in Midway; see also pickleball noise.

Bid review checklist

• Maintained (not initial) foot-candles stated for horizontal and vertical.
• Minimum and max/min ratio meet the chosen category.
• Units consistent: foot-candles or lux, not both in one line.
• Spill light shown at the property line at the code's measuring height.
• Fixtures fully shielded; visors or louvers where neighbors can see the source.
• Pole heights and setbacks within the local cap.
• Color temperature within any local limit.
• Curfew shut-off and on-demand controls included.
• Operating and maintenance cost stated, not just the install price.

Related: court surfaces, court space calculator and winter and indoor play.