Following the Recreation Commission meeting on Dec. 4, during which commissioners discussed a consultancy’s final report on possible pickleball court placement in town, the picture for new places to play the sport in town looked grim. The Commission, already worn out from the separate and seemingly never ending planning for a Morses Pond beach renovation, expressed little desire to take on the task of driving through development of courts at the Morses Pond Parking lot, which the report cited as a feasible location.
But the prospects for outdoor pickleball play sounded much more positive following the Dec. 19 Natural Resources Commission meeting, during which possible plans were discussed both for the Hunnewell courts along Washington Street and at MassBay Community College’s large parking lot on Oakland Street.
Recreation Commission’s take
Back to the Rec meeting, Chair Paul Cramer described what could be a $700K-$1M project to put four courts at the Morses Pond parking lot on land not controlled by the Recreation Commission or Department (the Department of Public Works oversees that land) and for which Rec doesn’t have money.
Cramer encouraged some other group, say Wellesley pickleball enthusiasts, to pick things up from here and try to convince Town Meeting to buy in (Rec commissioners pointed to the role youth sports leagues have played in moving past field projects toward completion). Otherwise, he said, the reality may be that a limited amount of outdoor pickleball space will be available in town, and players might need to opt for new indoor venues such as the Bosse pickleball complex at Natick Mall or the new courts at the former Boston Sports Club space near Babson.
“My feeling for this commission is spending years trying to drive through this town a process against a lot of objection to get four pickleball courts built in the Morses Pond parking lot is not a good use of our time,” Cramer said. In recent months, the Recreation Commission has held a couple of public forums on the pickleball courts draft report.
It’s unclear whether any group will take the report findings on the Morses Pond parking lot and run with them.
NRC explores new options
But the Dec. 19 NRC meeting included a discussion on possible nearer-term pickleball court solutions.
Look for the 2025 Wellesley Annual Town Meeting warrant to include an article seeking funding to rehab the Hunnewell tennis courts and possibly include pickleball courts in the design. The Department of Public Works has been working on bid documents that should provide some numbers ahead of Town Meeting in the spring.
One design being considered would convert the “bang board” space—where you can practice hitting balls on a wall—into a pickleball court (the board would remain). But a more extensive design change would convert tennis court #8 into four pickleball courts. Pickleball has been allowed on courts 7 and 8 using chalk lines that are vulnerable to the elements (tape had been used but created a mess). Under the new configuration, one tennis court would be eliminated, and the cost of adding pickleball courts would be negligible since the court area is being renovated anyway.
“While we solve potentially one problem, we create yet another,” acknowledged NRC board member Jay McHale, who has begun discussions with Wellesley Public Schools about the situation. The school tennis teams use the courts for practices and matches. McHale has collected data that could be used to figure out whether the high school might be able to use some combination of Hunnewell and Sprague tennis courts that would make the loss of a court at Hunnewell acceptable to the athletic department and help the town shift pickleball away from Sprague courts that are very close to homes, where residents have complained of noise from the game.
Whether sounds from pickleball would be a factor as well at the Hunnewell courts needs to be explored. McHale added that a sound barrier could be added around the courts there. Establishing a permanent pickleball setup at Hunnewell could help the town get away from its temporary pickleball courts at Sprague and Perrin Park, McHale said. “It’s just too close to the houses… We’ve got to deal with that,” he said.
The NRC plans to hold a public hearing on this topic in January.
Separately, the town has been in discussions with MassBay Community College about testing its large Oakland Street parking lot to accommodate some temporary pickleball courts. If it works out, they could be available Friday-Sunday during the school year, and throughout the week during the summer (the parking lot is lit, though it’s unclear whether the lighting would be adequate for play). Informal testing indicated the pickleball sound would not impact those using Centennial Park, or in surrounding areas.
The NRC’s Bea Bezmalinovic said: “The purpose of this pilot is to provide us with a place to have extended play hopefully in a reasonable setting as we may opt not to provide access in some of these residential areas where it’s been a bit more of a challenge.”
The MassBay courts could also address more immediate demand than the possible Hunnewell courts could, as they would not be expected to be ready by summer. The Wellesley DPW would manage setup and takedown of the equipment at MassBay, and it’s possible the town would charge players a nominal fee to use the courts.
At the start of the meeting, during citizen speak, Wellesley Community Pickleball’s Danna Greenberg thanked the NRC for its creative work on coming up with possible new pickleball solutions, and for including players in its discussions.
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Why not try to work out something with Wellesley College, which has tons of tennis courts and no students during the summer? That might relieve demand for tennis on city courts, where it is already very difficult to get a court when the high school (and now middle school) kids are practicing. Town residents who pay taxes are also entitled to play tennis on town-funded courts – not just the athletic department, which also staffs tons of pay-for-play group lessons (open to anyone who pays, not just town residents) taught by high school coaches through the Rec. Department as well as private lessons (also staffed by the same people).