Fairmont park board picks preferred site for new pickleball courts

Fairmont's push for new pickleball courts moved from concept to near-term reality with a park board vote on a preferred site at the Jeffrey Kot Fields soccer complex parking lot. The board chose the north side of the lot as its recommendation, sending the proposal to City Council for further discussion and keeping the project alive as a serious parks investment.

The decision came on Tuesday, June 17, after the board weighed three possible locations: the current skate park site, the north side of the soccer complex lot and the south side of the same lot. City staff said those choices were shaped by conversations with pickleball players, and Public Works Director Matthew York said the debate reflected the reality that there are multiple opinions about what a pickleball complex should look like and where it should go.

Cost was a major factor behind the discussion. The soccer-lot option and the skate-park option both carried an estimated price tag of $880,000 for eight courts and lighting. If the city chose the skate park site, it would likely need to add a new bathroom amenity as well, a change that could add about $200,000 to the bill. That extra expense helped frame the soccer complex as the cleaner financial option before the project even reaches the council table.

Board members also raised practical concerns that went beyond the sticker price. They discussed wind shielding, access to nearby athletic areas and, in the case of the skate-park site, the location of a nearby animal shelter. York said a wind screen similar to the one used at Fairmont's tennis courts at Veterans Park could be installed, and he argued that the soccer-complex location already offers parking and lighting advantages that would help make the courts easier to use.

The board also briefly questioned whether the project should be scaled down to four courts instead of eight. York said the immediate priority was to settle on a location before finalizing the exact court count, a sign that Fairmont is still working through both the size and shape of the project. For local players, the site choice marks the clearest step yet toward a dedicated pickleball facility, but the final design, funding and timeline now depend on what City Council does next.