City of Walnut Creek Opens Six Resurfaced Cushioned Tennis Courts and Solar Spectator Arbor at Heather Farm Park

Recreation directors with the City of Walnut Creek Arts + Recreation Department and tournament directors from the Walnut Creek Tennis Center cut the ribbon on Sunday afternoon on six resurfaced cushioned championship tennis courts, precision-shielded LED match lighting, and a 12-kilowatt solar spectator arbor at Heather Farm Park at 1540 Marchbanks Drive in Walnut Creek. Framed by panoramic views of Mount Diablo and the Heather Farm pond, the eighteen-court municipal tennis center hosts more than 140,000 annual player visits, USTA NorCal junior sectionals, and senior mixed-doubles leagues.

Across Courts 1 through 6—the facility's primary tournament and instructional show courts—contractors diamond-ground the concrete subbase, sealed structural expansion joints with elastomeric membrane fabric, and applied a six-coat Laykold Gel cushioned acrylic system in classic two-tone forest and stadium green. The vulcanized rubber cushion layer absorbs 26 percent of lower-extremity impact force while maintaining consistent ITF Category 3 medium-pace ball bounce.

Along the central spectator spine between Courts 3 and 4, carpenters constructed a 60-foot-long Douglas-fir and galvanized-steel viewing pergola topped with thirty-two bifacial solar panels that offset daytime pro-shop and ball-machine electricity use. Beneath the canopy, tiered cedar bleacher benches, four USB-C device charging shelves, and a refrigerated water bottle refilling station keep players comfortable between sets.

Twenty-four new 400-watt directional LED court luminaires also cut evening lighting energy use by 58 percent. The $560,000 court modernization was approved by the Walnut Creek City Council through the Parks Capital Improvement Fund; court bookings are available on the City of Walnut Creek Arts + Recreation Portal.