New pickleball courts planned for Firefighters Park

TROY — Troy City Council approved multiple contracts and a budget amendment for the construction of pickleball courts at Firefighters Park at a meeting April 7.

According to information from the April 7 Troy City Council meeting packet, the city of Troy offers four dedicated outdoor pickleball courts at Redwood Park, along with Tennis courts at Boulan Park and Brinston Park that are lined for pickleball. Additional courts have been considered previously, but receiving funds to move forward with the project have been unsuccessful.

“We’ve seen the demand for pickleball over the last several years in the community and this is one of those projects that compete with the rest of our capital needs every year,” Troy Public Works Director Kurt Bovensiep said. “We’ve put in for some increased pickleball courts. Unfortunately, those infrastructure projects have always taken precedence over these leisure services-type projects, but because of our good fiscal responsibility and the fund balance policy that council set in place back in 2014, we’re at a great position to do what I would consider some of these one-off projects.”

Within their research, city staff compared several surrounding pickleball courts to determine the amount of courts, amenities, and location. After reviewing 25 different locations around Troy, it was determined that eight courts would be an appropriate size and the location should include restroom facilities.

“This narrowed the site selection to developed parks that currently have restrooms,” according to information provided from the meeting packet. “Additionally, the noise of the sport was also a consideration and influenced the proximity of the courts to surrounding residential neighbors. For these reasons, Firefighters Park between the current play structure and the Baseball field was selected.”

City staff also reached out to community members and game advocates through letters, emails and phone conversations. Also taken into consideration were casual conversations after City Council meetings and opinions shared during “Troy Talk,” which is a monthly community meeting involving Troy City Manager Frank Nastasi. At the meetings, community members are invited to share thoughts at a public venue.

Some of the design suggestions that were included in the final bid proposal entail taller fences on the exterior of the courts, shorter fences between the courts, shade structures, benches, and paddle racks.

“We reached out to the neighboring residents,” Bovensiep said. “We realized that pickleball does create some additional noise, so we wanted to make sure that the . . . neighbors to the park were OK with the concept, and the homeowners association president (Wyngate Home Owners Association) represented all the letters we sent out to those residents and they were happy with some of the things we were doing.”

Troy City Council unanimously approved a contract to Best Asphalt, Inc. of Romulus to construct eight pickleball courts at Firefighters Park for a total cost of $489,509.82, plus a 15% contingency of $73,000. Council also approved a contract to Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick, Inc. of Shelby Township for contract administration services, construction observation services and testing, for a fee of $56,800, plus a 10% contingency of $5,600.00. A budget amendment from the unassigned general fund balance to the capital fund in the amount of $625,000 was also part of the approval.

“I just wanted to point out, governing is such a team sport and there’s so many ‘push-me, pull-you’s’ on our budget,” Troy Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Hodorek said. “It’s unbelievable, and the fact that we’ve been able to bring this forward when we identified we could move as swiftly as we did is very much appreciated by everyone involved and I just would really like to to note that there are a number of residents who became involved in the discussion, and understanding what we were trying to do. I just want to give a shoutout to their efforts and their voices and their involvement.”

“It’s really one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S.,” Troy City Council member Hirak Chanda said. “People from all age groups are interested in the sport and I’m really happy that we can support this.”

Troy Mayor Ethan Baker acknowledged the popularity of pickleball in the city.

“I know that a lot of brainstorming, a lot of work, went into trying to figure out where the best location was,” Baker said. “I know there was some competing locations, potentially, at the community center and civic center, and I understand and I’m thrilled to look at the cost-saving mechanism by doing (this) at Firefighters — to have the restrooms already in place to the community members. … There’s a huge pickleball community in the city of Troy and I guess I want to say this is exciting. I think this takes our dedicated pickleball courts from four to 12 when these are completed.”

The courts will likely be completed by June 30.

For more information, visit troymi.gov.