Fairmont advances pickleball relocation plans with $35,000 engineering study

Fairmont has moved its pickleball and skate park conversation from a rough idea to an engineering-backed relocation plan, approving a $35,000 task order with Bolton & Menk to study field conditions, site layouts and possible site changes tied to the city’s 2026 Capital Improvement Plan.

The shift matters because it changes the question from whether Fairmont should improve its recreation spaces to where those uses should go. On April 13, 2026, the Fairmont City Council approved Task Order No. 5 for engineering assistance on the pickleball courts and skate park redevelopment, giving city staff a formal way to compare locations before any final decision is made.

Public Utilities Director Matthew York told council members the review will look at every potential site. For pickleball, the big issue is no longer just surface repair at Veterans Park. The city is weighing a relocation that would move the courts away from a residential setting, where noise complaints have long shadowed the game, and toward a place where fewer neighbors would be affected if four courts, or more, are active at once.

That logic has been building for months. In August 2025, the Fairmont Park Board recommended moving pickleball from Veterans Park to the current skate park site at 425 Winnebago Ave. and shifting the skate park closer to the aquatic center. York said the Winnebago area already offered lights, power and a good parking lot, which made it attractive for pickleball. Staff said the new court area would likely include four courts, enough to give Fairmont a more serious outdoor home for the sport while freeing space at Veterans Park for a shelter house.

The skate park side of the plan is just as important. City officials have said a new skate park near Fairmont Aquatic Park could improve visibility and make law enforcement monitoring easier. It would also place the facility closer to schools, bike-trail traffic and the aquatic park, which fits Fairmont’s broader push toward youth-centered recreation around existing amenities.

That push comes after a year of hard numbers. In July 2025, staff said the skate park at 425 Winnebago Ave. was built in 2000 with wooden fixtures on an asphalt slab over dirt. A concrete rebuild was estimated at $40,000 to $70,000 for a half-size park and $90,000 to $140,000 for a full-size version. The pickleball side has had its own price tag, with staff previously estimating about $192,000 in 2024 to resurface or reconstruct the Veterans Park courts. Fairmont already opened new pickleball courts at Windmill Park on June 6, 2025, converting former basketball courts for $120,000 as part of a park investment program that officials said would reach about $3 million by the end of the fiscal year.