Opening to the public this week will be some new pickleball courts in Niles. Public Works Director Joe Ray tells us some local pickleball groups asked the city for a place to play a couple of years ago. As the game grew in popularity, the city started looking at how it could meet the demand.
“We had eight existing tennis courts down at Plym Park that were starting to fall into disrepair and needed maintenance and things, so it was decided that we would take half of those and fully demolish and then construct pickleball courts,” Ray said.
Ray says it took about six months and $291,000 in federal ARPA funds to make the new courts possible. Pickleball is similar to tennis, so converting tennis courts for the new purpose wasn’t a major undertaking.
“It mainly has to do with the striping and moving the net. The dimensions of the courts are significantly different. They’re a lot smaller.”
Ray says the new courts will be available on a first come, first serve basis. Some local pickleball groups will be on hand for Wednesday’s ribbon cutting, offering demonstrations and giveaways. The event will be at 5:30 p.m. at Plym Park on Marmont Steet, off of M-139.
