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07/21/2023 12:12 PMThe Town Council will hold a town meeting for residents to approve the next round of projects using the federal COVID-19 relief funds at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 3 at Town Hall.
At its meeting on July 19, the Town Council voted to schedule a town meeting so that residents could approve the second installment of projects using the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) money.
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 money to help with various projects to combat the pandemic’s negative effects.
On July 6, the Town Council held a workshop to find a consensus among council members on what the next round of ARPA projects should contain.
In the next round of ARPA projects, the council 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, replacement bleachers at the Peters Complex, work at the beach bathhouse, continued nonprofit assistance, 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. Though the public hearing was heavily attended, no members of the public commented on any proposed project besides pickleball.
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 the right field of the baseball field.
Currenty, there is a service road and sundial in the area that would need to be moved. Additionally, since there is a river in the area, the town would need approval from the Inland Wetlands Commission. The council would allocate $209,000 to the project, which does not include building a pedestrian walk or lighting in the area. Town Manager Karl Kilduff told the council that geotechnical work would likely need to be done to make sure building the courts is possible.