Wayne Township gets another $250,000 for community center pickleball courts

Wayne Township is another step closer to turning the old Community Center courts into a real public pickleball draw, but the project is not locked in yet. The township was recommended for another $250,000 toward restoration of the sports courts, a match to the $250,000 it received last year, putting the full project at about $500,000 if the funding is finalized.

That matters for players because this is not being treated as a one-sport vanity build. Parks and Recreation Director Tim Roetman described a broader setup built around pickleball, basketball and volleyball, with shade structures and team benches to make the site more usable for more people. In other words, Wayne is talking about a shared recreation stop, not just a few striped lines on old pavement.

The courts are part of a larger push around the Wayne Township Community Center, which sits on the former YMCA property on Pike Drive. Wayne agreed in 2024 to buy the site for $12.2 million, a move intended to expand recreation programs and keep the land from redevelopment. The property already came with a 406-seat performing arts center, an indoor pool and tennis courts, so the court restoration fits into a much bigger campus strategy than a simple resurfacing job.

The county money is also sitting inside a larger round of park and preservation spending. Passaic County’s 2026 Open Space, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund recommendations totaled $3,746,267 across 27 projects, after the county approved its 2026 budget on February 17, 2026. The recommended awards were announced in late May, but grants over $100,000 still have to go through public comment and a hearing before final approval. That is the real timing issue for Wayne players: the courts are closer, but they are not a done deal yet.

Still, the direction is clear. If the award survives the next round of county review, Wayne would have enough money lined up to push the Community Center courts from deteriorated tennis space toward a more flexible public complex that could host local leagues, clinics and casual open play. That would give the township a more visible place in the local pickleball map, even with SPORTIME Pickleball Wayne already advertising 18 dedicated indoor courts at Willowbrook. For Wayne, the bigger story is not just another grant. It is whether this old YMCA site becomes the kind of civic recreation hub that keeps drawing players back.