Chatham-Kent Council approved staff recommendations for 10 new pickleball courts to be built at five locations across Chatham-Kent.
Council voted in favour of constructing two courts each in Blenheim, Chatham, Tilbury, Dresden and Wallaceburg.
The courts in Wallaceburg will be at Steinhoff Park, behind the current tennis courts, located at 157 Park Street.
“This area has players that can play both pickleball and tennis,” Rob Pollock, director of parks, recreation and cemeteries, said in a staff report.
“It is already an established area for these sports to be played.”
The Dresden courts will be 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,” Pollock said.
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.
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, regarding the public consultation process earlier this year.
“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.”
At their virtual meeting on Monday, Council also directed staff to bring back a report, exploring the addition of four more courts in one of the approved communities, in order to create a hub.
