Racket-sports ad-hoc committee recommends short-term solution for court-capacity issues

Committee agrees to continue work on permanent solution

By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Though an ad-hoc advisory committee struck by St. Marys council to find solutions to the town’s racket-sport-court capacity issues ultimately sided with recreation-and-leisure-master-plan consultants on how to address those issues in the short term, the committee has agreed to continue working on a long-term strategy with the goal of developing dedicated courts for both pickleball and tennis.

Representatives from the St. Marys Pickleball Association and St. Marys Tennis Club met with town councillors and staff for the ad-hoc committee’s second meeting Feb. 19 to discuss potential short- and long-term plans for St. Marys’ racket-sports courts on Water Street South identified by the committee at its first meeting Feb. 5 and researched by town staff in the interim.

Those potential plans were meant to address a longstanding dispute between local tennis and pickleball players around how the town’s current four tennis courts – the town’s north courts have lines for pickleball and tennis, while the two south courts are painted for tennis only – should be laid out to maximize use, enjoyment and competitive play by players of both sports. The plans also include the addition of pickleball nets so members of the public can play at any time. Currently, the town’s pickleball nets are only available to pickleball association members or they must be booked in advance.

“Our team worked on getting some pricing for this committee today,” St. Marys director of community services Stephanie Ische told committee members. “ … The first option is the short-term option to resurface the north half of the existing Water Street facility courts to create the six pickleball courts, which would be four shared (with tennis) and two dedicated, and one shared tennis court.”

At an estimated cost of $74,000, this first option proposed by the committee at its last meeting includes the cost of portable pickleball nets on wheels for the shared courts and permanent nets for the dedicated pickleball courts, and the painting of lines with different colours indicating which are for tennis and which are for pickleball. Based on contractor availability, the work for this option, which is expected to take three to four days, would have occurred mid-season or in the fall. It would also have extended the amount of time before the courts need to repainted from three to five years to seven to 10 years.

The second option, Ische continued, would have been to repaint the north courts to accommodate six pickleball courts and two shared tennis courts with different coloured lines indicating which are for tennis and which are for pickleball. At a cost of $65,000, this option would have similarly extended the life of the north courts, required three to four days to complete and the work would have been done in mid-season or in the fall. Unlike the first option, option two only includes funding for portable pickleball nets.

The final short-term option included in Ische’s report to the committee was the same recommendation made to council by Monteith Brown Planning Consultants through the town’s new recreation and leisure master plan, adopted by council on Jan. 28. At a cost of $20,000 – $7,500 of which is for painting and the remainder for the purchase of pickleball nets for all pickleball courts – the consultants’ recommendation will see the painting of four additional dedicated pickleball courts on the south side of the existing courts facility.

While the pickleball association representatives ultimately said they preferred the first option, tennis club representative Don Van Galen made a motion to recommend option three to council, the very same consultant recommendation he spoke against at council’s Jan. 28 meeting, resulting in the formation of the ad-hoc committee.

In his motion, which was supported by the committee with the exception of the two pickleball representatives, Van Galen specified that the town should work with both clubs to determine which colours would be used for pickleball-court lines, and which would be used for tennis-court lines to help prevent confusion during play.

“We don’t agree but, as you’ve said, council is committed to a permanent solution,” Van Galen said. “If pickleball is committed to a permanent solution, then we should move ahead with option (three).”

“I’ll speak against option (three) and suggest proposal one,” said pickleball association representative Merlin Leis. “I think any short-term solution isn’t (for) a year, it isn’t two years. It’s many, let’s be honest here; at least five. I think dedicated pickleball courts is something the community requires. Our members certainly want and expect it. It’s regrettable that we’d lose one tennis court. Tennis only really uses the shared courts in overflow situations. I don’t know how often you use (all) four courts; I think it’s tenable that you can lose one court.”

Currently, the St. Marys Tennis Club has 72 members and the St. Marys Pickleball Association has 140 members.

As for a long-term, permanent solution to the issues at play, Ische included both the expansion of the current courts facility to include four additional, dedicated pickleball courts – a project that would be complicated by the adjacent Riverwalk Walkway and Thames River flood plain, and require input and approval from the Upper Thames Conservation Authority – and the construction of a new, standalone courts facility with dedicated courts for both sports on an as-of-yet unspecified plot of land.

At this point, Ische said staff do not know whether an expansion of the current facility is possible or how much it might cost, and the construction of a standalone facility, based on the costs of similar facilities in nearby towns, could cost upwards of $460,000. Mayor Al Strathdee, who is serving as chair of the ad-hoc committee, said the pickleball and tennis clubs would need to lead a community fundraising effort to make the construction of a new courts facility possible.

As council had not yet given the ad-hoc committee a mandate to continue its work beyond March 11, when its recommendation will be presented to council, part of that recommendation will be to establish a more permanent committee with terms of reference and a mandate to work towards either a new, standalone facility or an expansion of the existing courts.

Town CAO Brent Kittmer said the committee could expect to meet again at some point in April to continue discussions.