New Tecumseth committee backs Tottenham pickleball courts over Keogh Park

A narrow 5-4 Committee of the Whole vote moved New Tecumseth’s two-court pickleball plan away from Keogh Park and toward the Tottenham Community and Fitness Centre, putting the town a step closer to building a dedicated outdoor home for the game in Tottenham. The change matters because staff had put Keogh Park forward as the preferred site, but councillors instead backed a location already tied to year-round recreation and existing pickleball use.

The project is budgeted at about $290,000, with the money set to come from the town’s recreation development charges reserve. That budget would cover site preparation, a concrete base, fencing, acrylic court surfacing, painted lines, posts and nets. The staff report also pegged annual costs at about $5,800 for maintenance and future replacement reserves, a reminder that even a two-court build carries long-term obligations as well as the upfront capital cost.

The Tottenham Community and Fitness Centre gave supporters a ready-made case for the switch. The facility has been open since 1977, with a new addition that opened on June 1, 2010, and the site already includes a soccer field, baseball diamond, skate park, splash pad, covered outdoor rink, parking, lighting and washrooms. The town also says the gymnasium is commonly rented for sports including pickleball. In spring 2025, another pickleball group was offered a place in the town’s pilot project but chose indoor permittable space at the Tottenham centre instead, which underlined how much of the local demand already gravitates to that complex.

The opposition to the Keogh Park location sat inside a bigger municipal argument about where pickleball belongs. New Tecumseth’s Parks, Trails and Open Space Master Plan, adopted in 2024, identified a need for five more pickleball courts by 2040 based on a provision rate of one court per 5,000 residents. That gave councillors a planning rationale for expanding access, but it also sharpened the debate over whether the town should spend recreation dollars on a park site or fold the courts into an established community hub.

The decision also lands in the middle of a longer local access problem. The town’s tennis courts in Alliston and Tottenham are operated by volunteer tennis clubs under agreements with the municipality, and non-members can face barriers when availability is restricted. A 2024 council motion had already set up a pilot project for pickleball league play on those courts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and local reporting in 2025 said interest in outdoor pickleball in Beeton had declined as clubs shifted toward indoor play. The Tottenham vote now extends that shift toward a more permanent, public-facing facility, with full council still to make the final call.