02-05-2025
Construction of town's first pickleball courts begins
SOUTHWICK — It's taken over a year and a half, but if all goes according to plan, the town's first pickleball courts will open at Town Hall in about two months.
'The asphalt was put down yesterday,' said the town's Building and Grounds Supervisor Daniel Fernandez while looking over the space directly behind the playground at Town Hall where the courts will be installed.
While it appears the work to install the fixtures for the courts could start now, Fernandez said the company that put down the asphalt, Chicopee-based Ondrick Materials & Recycling, LLC, said the surface needs at least 45 days to cure.
Once the curing is done, Fernandez said he, with the help of town employees, will install all the fixtures planned for the courts.
He said he's yet to decide if the posts needed for the nets will be installed permanently or made to be removable.
'We're just not sure yet,' he said.
The surface is the same size as the nearby basketball court, but the pickleball courts will only use about half of the area.
In the additional space will used as a basketball and shuffleboard court, Fernandez said.
The pickleball courts will be painted but he has yet to decide on the courts' color.
Typically, pickleball courts are blue, but he is considering green because the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District's school colors are green and yellow.
For now, a temporary fence has been installed around the courts to keep it from being damaged during the curing process.
In December 2024, at a Special Town Meeting, residents approved two Community Preservation Committee requests to fund the construction of the two courts at Town Hall and four at Whalley Park, for $115,000 and $207,000, respectively
However, when the town's Parks and Recreation Commission began planning for the courts' construction early last year, there was some concern that the amount allocated wouldn't be enough.
That led to a proposal during a commission meeting in August 2024 to nix the two courts at Town Hall and instead build six at Whalley Park.
That drew immediate pushback from the Council on Aging.
'We want the two here,' said COA Chair Paula LeBlanc at the board's meeting in early August after hearing the commission wanted all the courts at Whalley Park. 'We're the ones to started this, so we should have them here.'
At that point, Russ Anderson, who was serving as the interim supervisor of the Building and Grounds Department, was asked to learn if the two courts could be built for $115,000.
After checking he learned it could be done.
'I came to the realization that we could do something for what was budgeted,' Anderson said about the estimate to build the courts for $107,636, which would include lighting, already installed for the playground, and fencing.
He also learned the four courts proposed at Whalley Park could be installed for less than $208,000.
However, the Parks and Recreation Commission decided to pursue a new pickleball court project at Whalley Park.
In January, it applied to the CPC for an allocation of $677,000 to build six courts at the park which will include lighting, fencing, and a pavilion for shade.
