Pickleball court plan may not be final
Coun. Joy Lachica pushing for Bonnerworth Park idea to get one more review
If council approves Coun. Joy Lachica’s motion, it will add a last chance for council to review the plan
The Bonnerworth Park redevelopment plan — which includes 16 pickleball courts that would pave over much of the park’s green space, to many neighbours’ dismay — could potentially require one final vote from city council before construction can start in the fall.
Coun. Joy Lachica will bring forward a notice of motion about it at Monday’s general committee meeting.
Her idea is two-pronged: first, city council would receive updated information about the project sometime between now and the planned start of construction in fall.
Council could see a site plan, for instance, plus cost details, technical studies (such as a parking study) and a report detailing all the community consultation and input.
Next, council would examine those details and give the project one final vote before construction can start. If council approves Lachica’s motion, it will add a last chance for council to review the plan and say yes or no to a project that had previously garnered final approval.
At a city council meeting April 8, council had approved the plan for the park redevelopment in what was meant to allow the project to happen — no more votes necessary.
But at that meeting — the same one where several pickleball players advocated for the courts — many neighbours weren’t happy.
Some neighbours told council, for example, that they hadn’t been consulted on the plans, saying that it was at a public meeting March 21 — about five months after city council had approved the redevelopment
concept, including the pickleball courts — that they first heard anything about it.
In the meantime, community concern is ongoing. On April 24, an online petition was launched on the website change.org calling for a stop to the redevelopment of the park. The petition — launched by neighbour D’Arcy Jenish — had received more than 2,700 signatures by Thursday.
Jenish wrote online that the redevelopment — including the illuminated pickleball courts and parking — “threatens to disrupt this cherished local amenity.”
Bonnerworth Park, located at 550 McDonnel St., has four tennis courts, a 20-year-old skateboard facility, two ball diamonds and green space.
City council is planning a $4.4million redevelopment in 2024 and 2025 that will see it transformed. Under the plan, the ball diamonds won’t be replaced, but the tennis courts are relocating to Knights of Columbus Park (on Park Street North), and the pickleball courts there will move to Bonnerworth.
The pickleball courts are expected to go under construction first, in the fall, and then in 2025, the city plans to expand the existing skateboard area, plus add a specialized new bike track.
This isn’t the first time Lachica has asked council to pause the plan. At a committee meeting April 2, she presented a notice of motion for council to take some time to rethink it and possibly adjust it (perhaps with fewer pickleball courts, for example).
But that motion lost 8-3, with councillors Alex Bierk and Keith Riel voting alongside Lachica. Some councillors had explained at the meeting April 8 when the plan was ratified why they want the city to forge ahead.
Coun. Lesley Parnell, the parks and recreation co-chair, said that demand for pickleball facilities is so high the city would need 36 new outdoor courts to satisfy it.
Parnell said the city is “land-strapped” and that there is no better place for new courts than Bonnerworth Park.
At that same meeting, Coun. Kevin Duguay, a professional planner, called it an “appropriate” redevelopment of a park that isn’t utilized to its full potential. Duguay also emphasized that Bonnerworth Park is a community park — meaning it’s meant to serve everyone in Peterborough — not a neighbourhood park that’s designed only for the area residents.