The Wheeling Plan Commission on Dec. 3 voted to recommend approval for a pickleball facility at 851 Seaton Court, with modified conditions addressing parking and tournaments.

Petitioner Peter Sidorchuk told the commission his plan was revised from four courts to three to reduce parking demand and that operations would include reservations, leagues and limited weekend round-robin play. "The tournaments would be more or less just round robins where it would just be 12 people," Sidorchuk said. He told commissioners the facility would operate roughly 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and that he would work with the landlord on access to additional spaces during off-hours.

Staff had proposed reducing the parking requirement from 13 to 9 spaces given site constraints but flagged noncompliant striping and drive-aisle widths. Listing broker Ron Roberti testified the entire building has roughly 27 spaces in total, but staff clarified that a zoning exception reduces required parking for the new use and is not itself authorization to rely on other tenants' parking without a written agreement.

Commissioners and staff agreed to modify conditions: the applicant will begin operations with three courts and no tournaments (tournaments may be pursued later by amendment if a written parking agreement and restriping are in place), employees and customers must use the designated parking, and noncompliant stalls and markings must be corrected and restriped by May 1, 2026. The commission then voted to forward the recommendation to the Village Board on Dec. 15; recorded "yes" votes included Commissioners Sprague, Carl, Ryals, Smart, Heikin and Chairman Johnson.

The modified conditions aim to allow the tenant to open sooner while protecting neighboring businesses' parking supply and requiring corrective striping and a parking plan before licensing.