Municipal staff is recommending five locations for the construction of 10 new pickleball courts across Chatham-Kent.
The courts are being proposed to be built in Blenheim, Chatham, Tilbury, Dresden and Wallaceburg.
Staff is recommending to build two courts at Steinhoff Park, behind the current tennis courts, located at 157 Park Street.
“This area has players that can play both pickleball and tennis,” a staff report indicates.
“It is already an established area for these sports to be played.”
The proposed Dresden location is at Jackson Park, located at 319 Brown Street.
“Access to parking and is a well utilized park already with the available space that is centrally located in the community,” a staff report indicates.
Total construction cost for the project is pegged at $554,600, with $419,600 coming from the provincial Community Building Grant, $10,000 from the Ontario Builds Sign program and $125,000 from the Municipality, which is 20% of the project cost, which was previously approved by Council.
“Chatham-Kent’s one time funding share of $125,000 for construction costs as well as annual maintenance and lifecycle costs for ten pickleball courts were approved during the 2022 budget process,” a staff report indicates.
Rob Pollock, director of parks, recreation and cemeteries, said staff analyzed the community engagement and determined that there was a high demand to have the pickleball courts spread throughout Chatham-Kent, instead of having the majority of courts in Chatham.
“Preference for the communities of Blenheim and Tilbury were prevalent in the general comments given in the survey,” Pollock said in a report.
“Using the survey results, staff determined that due to the demand for pickleball courts in these communities they would be added to the grant funding and the number of courts to be installed in Chatham would be reduced to two with possible expansion to eight courts in the future with further grant funding or fundraising completed by a community groups.”
Read the full staff report, here.
The item is listed on the agenda for the virtual Council meeting on Monday, July 11, 2022.
