CLINTON

At its next meeting, the Town Council is expected to schedule a town meeting for residents to approve the funding for the next round of projects using the COVID-19 relief money. The move comes after a workshop to fine-tune the proposal.

On July 6, the Town Council held a workshop to find a consensus on what the next round of American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) projects would look like.

Since it was a workshop, no formal votes took place, though the council is expected to formally approve the projects at its next meeting, which is scheduled for July 19. The funding for the projects will need to be approved at a town meeting which the council will need to schedule at the July 19 meeting.

The next round of ARPA projects the council is considering includes several projects that would use up the remaining $1.81 million of ARPA funding allocated to the town.

Those projects include funding for potential pickleball courts at undeveloped land at Indian River Recreational Complex (IRRC), replacing the artificial turf at IRRC, putting in replacement bleachers at the Peters Complex, doing work at the beach bathhouse, providing continued nonprofit assistance, doing the public safety radio project, paving, and small public works projects.

Originally, the town had been set to approve the funding needed for the ARPA projects on July 5. However, the council canceled the town meeting scheduled for that day after a heavily attended public hearing on June 21 where residents opposed a plan to turn a basketball court at IRRC into a pickleball court. The council opted to instead tweak the ARPA proposal and reschedule the town meeting.

There will not be another public hearing held after the town meeting date is set.

“The public hearing on the ARPA allocation plan was already held. The extent of public comment was around the placement of pickleball courts and impact on basketball space. The next step would be a special town meeting to act on the proposed appropriations. The council will have to set the date for the special town meeting,” Town Manager Karl Kilduff said.

The council spent the bulk of the workshop on July 6 talking about pickleball. The council agreed on a plan to potentially place three pickleball courts at IRRC at a spot of undeveloped land off of the right field of the baseball field.

A service road and sundial in the area would need to be moved. Additionally, the town would need approval from the Inland Wetlands Commission since there is a river in the area. The council would allocate $209,000 to the project, not including construction of a pedestrian walk or lighting in the area. Kilduff told the council that geotechnical work would likely need to be done to make sure building the courts is possible.

Last year, it was announced that Clinton would receive $3.8 million of federal money from ARPA. In early 2022, residents approved using about $2 million of the ARPA funds to help with various projects to combat the pandemic’s negative effects.

Though the public hearing about the latest round of projects was heavily attended, no members of the public commented on any proposed project besides pickleball.