Painswick Park could soon equal pickleball in Barrie.
Council gave initial approval Monday night to add eight new pickleball courts with lighting to the four already there, along with removing the existing soccer field, relocating the existing ball diamond to the soccer pitch, expanding the existing parking area, and adding new accessible pathways with lighting.
And all for a cool $1.9 million to build, plus $25,480 annually to maintain and operate, without further discussion by councillors Monday.
Coun. Mike McCann, who pushed hard for the new pickleball courts, said all the work paid off.
“A lot of decision-making and a lot of heavy lifting was done outside of city council, dealing with staff, dealing with residents, dealing with other councillors," he said. "I believe that this is one of the best laid-out plans the city has been involved in with this council and the community.
“A year ago, I don’t think anybody thought this would happen,” McCann added. “And here we are a year later and we have residents super-happy, we’ve got pickleball enthusiasts super-happy, council is happy and the city staff are happy. I think this is going to be a complete success.”
City council will consider final approval of this motion at its March 28 meeting.
Twelve dedicated pickleball courts are suitable for local and regional tournaments. The facility would have flexible seating and visitor capacity for a minimum of 50 participants and 100 spectators for a local pickleball tournament and 250 participants for a regional tournament.
The total cost required for 12 pickleball courts, eight of them new, is estimated at $1,639,000.
A total project budget of $1.91 million is needed to cover all costs and contingencies associated with the construction of the proposed pickleball facility and associated park renewal at Painswick Park, located at the corner of Big Bay Point Road and Ashford Drive.
Staff would host what the city calls a public information centre to seek public feedback on the Painswick Park preliminary design for a pickleball facility, prior to any work proceeding there.
Painswick Park is about 10 acres in size and has a playground, a major soccer field, a baseball diamond, two major lighted senior ball diamonds under construction, two tennis courts and a granular parking lot.
The city offers drop-in pickleball sessions at various community centres throughout Barrie. There are dedicated courts at Red Path and Painswick parks, share-used courts at Greenfield, Sandringham and Strabane parks. In all, the city has 11 existing pickleball courts in its parks, with six dedicated pickleball courts, and five shared-use courts.
The city plans to construct an additional four dedicated pickleball courts at Eastview Community Park to have a total of 15 courts in 2022.
Pickleball combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis/ping pong. It’s played with a paddle and a wiffleball, a perforated plastic ball, on a badminton-sized court with a slightly modified tennis net. Pickleball can be played as doubles or singles and by all age and skill levels for both recreation and as a social activity.
The Barrie Pickleball Club has said it has about 450 members in and around the city.
