Pickled

Chapters

1. 0:00 Cold open
2. 2:25 Act 1: Half
3. 5:28 Act 2: Why half?
4. 8:15 Act 3: The Town's half
5. 9:59 Act 4: The estimate
6. 15:10 Act 5: A fourth site
7. 18:03 Where it stands
8. 20:07 Close

Read more on this site

• The pickleball courts request The club’s request and every Council decision on it.
• The Eaglecrest golf course Where the 2026 courts budget went.
• The Memorial Golf Course Town reserves spent on the clubhouse, and what the club pays back.

Transcript

Cold open

“And in Campbell River, we have four shared courts, four dedicated courts, two more courts planned. And in Qualicum, we have one court shared with the tennis people, for a population of 9,300. Thanks. I thought that would bring a smile to your faces.”

Narrator: March 22nd, 2023. A newly formed group, the Qualicum Beach Pickleball Club, came to Council with a slide show and a request: four outdoor courts. [1][2][3]

“But I did want to remind you that three years, almost three years later, here we are and we still do not have a site. I hope this is not an exercise in paralysis, because we have tried very hard to put our best efforts forward.”

Narrator: That was the same club, at a Town Hall meeting on December 17th, 2025. Since then Council has picked a fourth site and set a new price. As this episode goes out, in October 2026, there are still no courts. [4][3]

Narrator: This episode is about a promise from April 2023: Town land and half of $170,000, if the club raised the other half. It's about what that half was worth as the price went up, and how the Town's share got caught up in the purchase of a golf course. [5][3]

Narrator: This is Let Them Eat Golf, a podcast about what Qualicum Beach Council said no to, and what it said yes to, built from the Town's own records. Episode 3: Pickled. The narrator's voice is AI. The tape is from the Town's own meeting videos, and residents aren't named. No candidate, party or campaign pays for, sponsors or authorizes this podcast. [6]

Narrator: Four of the people you'll hear are on the ballot this month: Mayor Teunis Westbroek, and Councillors Scott Harrison, Anne Skipsey and Jean Young. You'll hear them only at Council and committee meetings, in their official roles. [7]

Act 1: Half

Narrator: The next day, at a budget meeting, the club asked for land and a grant of $50,000, and put the cost of four courts at about $175,000. Councillor Scott Harrison didn't say no. He said it belonged in a regional plan. [8][9][3]

“So that’s just my concern, is that I’m not saying pickleball shouldn’t be funded, but I do think that there’s a long queue of organizations that have been waiting for facilities in Qualicum Beach and Parksville and Oceanside, that if we sort of let one group go ahead because it’s a slightly smaller ask, then the other groups are sitting around waiting for how many more years and how many more years. So that’s why I think it’s great to have one regional document, let’s all invest in these things and get on with it a bit, because to your point too, like, I don’t want you guys to wait for three or four years with no real response.”

Narrator: Four weeks later, at a special budget meeting, the Mayor, Teunis Westbroek, moved to put pickleball courts in the 2024 budget: Town land, plus $170,000. The club would raise $85,000. The Town would put in $85,000 from its Growing Communities Reserve Fund, a one-time grant from the Province. Councillor Jean Young seconded. Harrison was absent. [5][10][3]

“So the reason why I thought this way, we could give them a chance to start raising funds. We’re not going to pay for the whole thing. This is a classic example of Qualicum Beach working with its volunteer organizations, who would run the facility, who would raise funds for the facility, and the town would be supportive by doing this. So it will still have time for discussion when the 2024 budget comes up. But I think by making this statement, it gives clarity to where the town is going, and to support what I think is one of the fastest growing sports in North America. And for us to do it this way shows our commitment and our support to see this project go ahead.”

Narrator: It carried unanimously: the Mayor and Councillors Anne Skipsey, Petronella Vander Valk and Young. The $170,000 came from the club's own numbers. In June, Harrison asked whether anyone had checked them. [5][11][12]

“Just briefly, through the chair to staff. So for the figure for the courts we’re going to construct, have staff looked at what the construction costs would be? Have we tried to ground-truth that at all? Or are we just operating on a figure that’s been provided? / No, the motion was that we will provide 85,000. If it costs more, that would be up to the pickleball players. Our number is 85,000.”

Narrator: Meanwhile, the club asked for something cheaper: pickleball lines painted on the Town's tennis courts on Veterans Way. In May, Council agreed to line one court. The Arrowsmith Tennis Club objected. The two games want different nets and different lines, and tennis players had nowhere else in town to play. In July, Council dropped the lines, unanimously, and Harrison moved for a staff report on a four-court facility. [13][14][12][15][3]

Act 2: Why half?

Narrator: On January 17th, 2024, Council chose a site, south of the skate park by the Civic Centre. Skipsey moved it, Harrison seconded, and it carried unanimously. [16][3]

Narrator: That morning, at a budget meeting, a club member asked when the courts would be built. Staff said the Town would go ahead once the club showed it had its half. She mentioned one contractor's quote, for another site, of $270,000. So she asked about costs. [17]

“So my question is, what, and you referred to that, Councillor Harrison, what happens if the costs go up, as they undoubtedly will escalate? / Let’s cross that bridge when we get to that point.”

Narrator: Then she asked about the skate park, whose users had agreed to raise $300,000 of the $1.5 million it would cost to rebuild. [17][3]

“I noticed that the skateboard park people were going to contribute 300,000 of $1.5 million, and I wondered why that one-fifth contribution was acceptable, whereas we have to provide 50%. / I can ask each councillor why they would think that, but typically the people that we see skateboarding, they may have a little more difficulty raising funds. And I think with the pickleball players that I’ve seen, it may be a little easier for them to write grants and to pursue grant opportunities, or to raise money.”

Narrator: The Mayor said the Town wanted to show young families they were welcome. And other clubs, he said, had paid their own way. The lawn bowling club "raised all their own money." The curlers "built their own place, the entire place, and then they turn it over to the town." And the golfers "contributed millions onto the golf course." Harrison backed the different shares, on his own grounds: what each group could afford. [17][3]

“For a lot of seniors, they have equity already, so they have more savings. They have more means than a younger family would, just because that whole process of getting started on the rung of buying your first house and getting started with kids, it’s a lot more expensive now. And that’s sort of part of, for me at least, why I’m sort of seeing the little bit of discrepancy in how much one group pays and the other group pays. It’s a little bit more, the financial capacity in each group is a little bit different.”

Narrator: Eighteen months later, the Town agreed to pay $8.5 million for a golf course. We found no record of any golf club or user group being asked to raise a share of it, or offering one. The only gift, $2.125 million from a private foundation, was to keep about 40 acres as park. [18][3]

Act 3: The Town's half

Narrator: The club couldn't raise its half. By September 2024, courts beside the Civic Centre had a new price. [19][20]

“Even though we have submitted many applications for funding for this project, we are unable to raise the now expected cost of a facility up at the Civic Centre of $400,000. Now, that $400,000 is an estimate. We had one quote for $368,000.”

Narrator: So the club proposed something smaller: turn the third tennis court on Veterans Way into four pickleball courts, for about a third of the Town's original commitment. The club had about $3,000 in the bank. The Mayor asked whether its members would put some of their own money down, to show "a real buy-in, and not say the taxpayers should pay all of it." [19][20][3]

Narrator: Council stayed with the Civic Centre site. In March 2025 the Mayor said he'd make a donation himself, and that the Town had "money in the budget to help them get it across the finish line." In June the club started a fundraising campaign, and the Mayor told Council the courts "won't happen until the earliest next year." [21][22]

Narrator: Five weeks later, on July 23rd, 2025, came the Eaglecrest funding plan. To help pay for the golf course, it took $2 million of the same provincial grant. That money had been set aside for Saahtlam Park, the bus garage, a public works building, and the pickleball courts. The courts' 2026 budget went to the purchase. The Mayor and Councillors Skipsey, Vander Valk and Young voted for the plan. Harrison voted against. [23][18][3]

Act 4: The estimate

Narrator: In September 2025, Skipsey, who holds Council's parks and recreation portfolio, passed on an update the club had sent. [24][25]

“And the original estimate, there was an oversight, we were forwarded an update. And so the original estimate of 170,000 has now at 351,000, and that was done in February of 2024. So it could even be a higher amount by now.”

Narrator: She moved that staff look at converting the tennis court after all. The Mayor seconded. Asked whether the club would still pay half, he said the conversion would cost a lot less: "I expect them to pay the whole thing." Harrison preferred the original plan. [24][25]

“I like the idea of having a dedicated court in the community park. We gave them a fundraising target. They’re almost there. Yes, it’s going to be a lot more expensive. I am not surprised by that one iota. But I’d rather just maintain the current status quo and, you know, help if they need a little bit more money. Well, it’s going to be very well utilized. There are a lot of pickleball players in our area. So I’d rather see that project get done in a couple of years.”

Narrator: That motion carried unanimously. In November, staff brought back a plan to convert the tennis court: $170,000 again, design included, with the Town paying at most $85,000. The Mayor was away, and Harrison chaired. The Chief Administrative Officer explained where the $170,000 came from. [26][27][11]

“This reflects the same decision-making council made last year, which is a $170,000 contribution with 85,000 being the town’s cap. That was originally based on the numbers provided by the pickleball club, that we actually said we haven’t ground-truthed. We anticipate those are low. Those were the numbers the group wanted to put forward, so that’s where we went with.”

Narrator: And the Director of Finance said there was no room to do more. [11]

“I’d just like to point out that based on the presentation that we had, we have very limited funding for the town to be able to commit more than the 85,000. Our asset investment reserve is fairly constrained, and so we would not have the ability to fund that in the upcoming year, or fund additional amount.”

Narrator: The four councillors there were divided on where. Young wanted the Community Park. [11]

“I’m just wondering though, with the popularity of pickleball, would it not be better though that somehow the funding can be available for a build at the community park? Just looking at, in a long term, kind of a down-the-road thing, where it’s just going to be so popular.”

Narrator: Skipsey wanted the tennis court. [11]

“I know pickleballers, they want to be playing pickleball. You know, I don’t think they are so concerned about which location it is, but they want to get moving on it. And I just see the site at the tennis court as being the most simple path forward and least expensive.”

Narrator: Harrison worried the land by the tennis courts might be wanted for something else within a few years. Young moved to look at Community Park options, and no one seconded it. They agreed, unanimously, on the money: $170,000 in the 2026 budget, the Town paying at most $85,000. The site was left for later. [26][11][28]

Narrator: Which brings us back to December 17th. At the Town Hall meeting that morning, the club warned it could lose donations and grants unless the project was settled by spring. Young asked about its own fundraising. [4][3]

“Because right now, when I averaged it out, if you have 264 players and you have 11,000 donated, it works out to only about $41 per person that plays pickleball. And, you know, gym memberships and all these other organizations charge so much more on a monthly basis than just $41. So I’m just wondering why fundraising is suspended. / Well, if I can be clear about that within the group, I mean, we’re not asking players to contribute to this now because of the nature of the Dobbs Foundation, which is Raymond James, because they don’t have that portal open right now. That wasn’t our choice.”

Narrator: That afternoon, Council put the money back: $170,000, the Town paying at most $85,000. The same figures it set in April 2023. Skipsey moved it, Vander Valk seconded, and it carried unanimously. The Mayor said he'd vote for the tennis court: "much less cost." [29][30][3]

Act 5: A fourth site

Narrator: Then the tennis club spoke up. In January 2026, its president told Council the tennis community had raised the money to build those courts 50 years ago, that tennis was growing too, and that the club hadn't been consulted. [31][3]

“So our short answer here is: leave it alone.”

Narrator: In February, staff turned to a new site: Town land near the Garden Road dog park, by the airport, about five minutes' drive from town, with few houses within earshot. Skipsey moved for a cost estimate, Harrison seconded, and it carried unanimously. [32][33][3]

Narrator: In April the estimate came in: $330,000, with parking. The budget held $85,000 from each side. The Mayor wanted the club to dig deeper. [34][35][3]

“A lot of people apparently play pickleball, and they have, some of them, I think, have deep pockets but short arms. And so we need to encourage them to raise some more money, because as a council I would be willing to say, look, we’ll kick it up 40,000 bucks, but you got to do the same.”

Narrator: One option was to pay for more of it from the federal gas tax fund. Harrison was wary. [35]

“And if this is where we allocate $40,000-ish from essentially the gas tax fund, that’s a lot more reasonable. I just think those funds are so desperately needed for the basic infrastructure of water, sewer, roads, that I’m loath to spend it on recreation.”

Narrator: Council settled on this. The Town pays for the parking, and the rest, $250,000, is split evenly: $125,000 each. Three motions, all unanimous. The last one asks staff to report back once the club confirms "a viable funding plan." [34][3]

Narrator: In May the club came back. It had raised $70,000, mostly through a foundation, and it offered Council two choices. [36][37]

“But here’s kind of the deal, is: at site three, we are willing to pay the $100,000 that we believe it will cost to convert, to repurpose the tennis courts. So that puts the town, so that means the town really doesn’t have to cover anything. Well, anything over $100,000. And our estimates have shown anywhere between $60,000 and $100,000 to repurpose that tennis court. So we would cover the whole thing.”

Narrator: Or, at Garden Road, it would put in $100,000, if its share were capped there. Councillors said Garden Road was the site Council had agreed on. Councillor Vander Valk asked why the club couldn't raise more, when other groups had. Council didn't change its offer. [36][37][3]

Where it stands

Narrator: On September 9th, 2026, staff gave Council their update on capital projects. [38]

“The town continues to await confirmation of a viable funding plan from the Pickleball Club before bringing that project back to council.”

Narrator: So: three and a half years, four sites, 15 times at Council, and nothing built. The Town's share has gone from $85,000 to $125,000, plus parking. The club's has gone from $85,000 to $100,000. At Garden Road, the gap between them is $25,000. [3]

Narrator: There's a fair case on every side. The club's first numbers were far too low, and the Town took them on trust. Costs rose for everyone. The tennis club built those courts, and it has a stake. Council has asked other groups to raise money too. And when the 2026 money went to Eaglecrest, Council put it back within five months. [3][11][31][29]

Narrator: In January 2024 the Mayor said other clubs paid their own way, and that golfers had "contributed millions onto the golf course." We looked. The Town bought the Memorial course in 1981 and leases it to the golf club. The club's audited statements show about $2.2 million of equipment and improvements bought over the years, paid for from green fees and members' dues, as its lease requires. They also show the Town went first. It spent $2 million of its own reserves building the clubhouse and the maintenance facility, and the club pays it back at $85,000 a year, with no interest shown. By the end of 2025 it had repaid just under $1 million. [17][39][40][3]

Narrator: Pickleball was asked to raise its half before anything is built. For Eaglecrest, the Town has budgeted $21.2 million, with no golf group asked to share it. Toward pickleball, it has offered $125,000, if the club matches it. [3][18][34]

Close

Narrator: Every document in this episode is linked in the show notes, and on the pickleball page at letthemeatgolf.ca. If we got something wrong, email facts@LetThemEatGolf.ca, and we'll correct it, here and on the site. If you're heard in this episode and want your voice taken out, write to the same address. [3]

Narrator: Advance voting is October 7th and October 14th, at the Civic Centre. General voting day is Saturday, October 17th. [7]

Sources

1. Regular Council video, Mar 22, 2023 (club delegation at 25:57) (opens in a new tab)
2. Regular Council minutes, Mar 22, 2023 (opens in a new tab)
3. Let Them Eat Golf: Pickleball courts, Qualicum Beach Pickleball Club (opens in a new tab)
4. Committee of the Whole (Town Hall) video, Dec 17, 2025 (club at 16:52) (opens in a new tab)
5. Special Council minutes, Apr 19, 2023 (opens in a new tab)
6. Let Them Eat Golf: About, and how this was made (opens in a new tab)
7. Let Them Eat Golf: Qualicum Beach election 2026 (opens in a new tab)
8. Committee of the Whole minutes, Mar 23, 2023 (opens in a new tab)
9. Committee of the Whole video, Mar 23, 2023 (club at 1:08:35) (opens in a new tab)
10. Special Council video, Apr 19, 2023 (pickleball motion at 13:30) (opens in a new tab)
11. Committee of the Whole video, Nov 12, 2025 (pickleball at 3:50:31) (opens in a new tab)
12. Regular Council video, Jun 14, 2023 (tennis club delegation at 26:39) (opens in a new tab)
13. Regular Council video, May 24, 2023 (pickleball lines at 12:23) (opens in a new tab)
14. Regular Council minutes, Jun 14, 2023 (opens in a new tab)
15. Regular Council minutes, Jul 19, 2023 (opens in a new tab)
16. Regular Council minutes, Jan 17, 2024 (opens in a new tab)
17. Committee of the Whole video, Jan 17, 2024 (pickleball questions at 1:53:00) (opens in a new tab)
18. Let Them Eat Golf: Where the money went, Eaglecrest Golf Course (opens in a new tab)
19. Regular Council video, Sep 11, 2024 (club delegation at 8:29) (opens in a new tab)
20. Regular Council minutes, Sep 11, 2024 (opens in a new tab)
21. Regular Council video, Mar 12, 2025 (pickleball letter at 56:08) (opens in a new tab)
22. Regular Council video, Jun 18, 2025 (33:15; club fundraising at 1:19:16) (opens in a new tab)
23. Special Council minutes, Jul 23, 2025 (Resolution 25-180) (opens in a new tab)
24. Regular Council video, Sep 17, 2025 (pickleball at 3:36:57) (opens in a new tab)
25. Regular Council minutes, Sep 17, 2025 (Resolution 25-207) (opens in a new tab)
26. Committee of the Whole minutes, Nov 12, 2025 (opens in a new tab)
27. Committee of the Whole agenda and scoping sheets, Nov 12, 2025 (opens in a new tab)
28. Let Them Eat Golf: Jean Young on Council (opens in a new tab)
29. Special Council minutes, Dec 17, 2025 (Resolution 25-369) (opens in a new tab)
30. Special Council video, Dec 17, 2025 (pickleball at 1:09:43) (opens in a new tab)
31. Regular Council video, Jan 21, 2026 (tennis club delegation at 11:36) (opens in a new tab)
32. Regular Council minutes, Feb 11, 2026 (Resolution 26-043) (opens in a new tab)
33. Regular Council video, Feb 11, 2026 (Garden Road at 3:11:29) (opens in a new tab)
34. Regular Council minutes, Apr 22, 2026 (Resolutions 26-112 to 26-114) (opens in a new tab)
35. Regular Council video, Apr 22, 2026 (pickleball at 2:28:31) (opens in a new tab)
36. Committee of the Whole (Parks and Recreation) minutes, May 27, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
37. Committee of the Whole video, May 27, 2026 (club delegation at 1:09) (opens in a new tab)
38. Regular Council video, Sep 9, 2026 (capital update at 2:26:15) (opens in a new tab)
39. Let Them Eat Golf: The Memorial Golf Course, the course the Town already owns (opens in a new tab)
40. Memorial Golf Club audited statements, year to Feb 28, 2025, notes 6, 9 and 10, and the Town’s payment schedule 2008–2025 (released under FOI-2026-02 to a local resident; published with permission by Town Hall Math) (opens in a new tab)

Spot a mistake? Email facts@LetThemEatGolf.ca and we’ll correct it, in the episode and here. If you’re heard in this episode and want your voice taken out, write to the same address.