Parksville council is looking to make the community park sports courts dedicated to pickleball.
The proposed idea would see the tennis lines removed, so tennis players would need to head to Springwood Park to use dedicated courts there.
Councillors Amit Gaur and Joel Grenz brought up the item, which comes with an estimated cost of $40,000, to a financial planning session during council's Nov. 4 meeting.
"The pickleball issue has been before this council, the previous council and the council before," Gaur said. "They’ve been asking for a designated facility for a long time.”
Gaur and Grenz met with both PQB area pickleball clubs to discuss how the sport's growing demand can be met.
“They are planning on amalgamating the two clubs, having one club represent all the pickleball players in Oceanside,” Gaur said. “Having those eight courts, plus the work that will be done at the lacrosse box, in the club’s opinion that will suffice the need for all the pickleball courts that are needed to hold tournaments and bigger events for the club.”
The clubs have indicated they are willing to contribute financially up front, as well as on an ongoing basis through user fees, he added.
“The previous proposal was significantly more expensive," said Grenz. "It seems that the pickleball community is pleased with this proposal, which would be nice, to put this to bed in that regard and finally bring to our community a more dedicated pickleball facility at a reasonable price.”
The $40,000 number was a quick estimate by the city's manager of parks, according to chief administrative officer Keeva Kehler, and is based on removing the tennis court lines as well as the holes where the net posts are placed.
Gaur added the clubs have indicated they are willing to pay for roughly half of the $40,000. They also plan to fund the courts through ongoing membership fees in the future, he added.
He also spoke with the president of the Arrowsmith Tennis Club about the proposal.
“He is happy that the pickleballers have their facility and the tennis courts in Springwood are enough for what the club needs,” Gaur said.
City staff have suggested including the project in the 2026 work plan and having it completed in conjunction with upgrades to the nearby lacrosse box. The Canada Community Building Fund and Parks Reserve were suggested as funding sources.
The item will come back to council for consideration as part of a "master list" of projects being put together by city staff.
