Montville Township opens new pickleball courts at Metro Tract

Montville Township’s new pickleball courts at Metro Tract are already open, and the town has put a usable playing window on the board: daily access until 10 p.m. while the Recreation Department finishes the new badge system. For players who have watched the project move from township paperwork to dirt and pavement, the shift is immediate and practical. The courts at 179 Changebridge Road are no longer just a planned amenity. They are open for play.

The township marked the opening with a grand opening and ribbon cutting on Wednesday, May 13, at 6 p.m. at Metro Tract. In a follow-up post the next day, Montville thanked residents for coming out to celebrate the new courts and said the site was open daily until 10 p.m. while access details were still being finalized. That matters for anyone trying to figure out how the facility fits into a regular week: the courts are usable now, even as the badge access workflow is still being put in place.

Township records show the project had been taking shape for more than a year before the first ball was hit. On January 8, 2025, the Recreation Commission noted that Christopher Statile, P.A. had been secured for design and construction support for pickleball courts at the Metro Tract Property. That same meeting listed $550,000 in capital funding and a $71,000 local recreation improvement grant for six pickleball courts. A February 12, 2025 agenda repeated the $550,000 figure and the $71,000 grant, and also noted $200,000 in capital for Metro Tract improvements.

The township later formalized the site’s recreational purpose in Resolution 2025-170, which identified the Metro Tract on Changebridge Road for recreational use, including a walking trail and pickleball courts, and said the facility design had already been finalized before bidding. Resolution 2025-253 then authorized the Metro Tract Pickleball Courts Project contract to Green Valley Group, Inc. The paper trail makes clear this was never a casual add-on. It was a funded, bid-out public project with a defined six-court buildout.

For players, the immediate appeal is obvious. A site that stays open daily until 10 p.m. has room for after-work rec play, beginner clinics, social round robins and day-retreat style programming once the town settles the badge rules and court procedures. A township legal notice also points to related curb and sidewalk work along Changebridge Road, which suggests Montville is still shaping the site around how people will actually arrive, walk in and play.

Metro Tract has now crossed the line from planning to play, and that is the real headline for Montville’s pickleball scene.