Pickleball courts are one step closer to finding a home at the Indian River Recreational Complex (IRRC). The Town has begun soliciting bids to build three dedicated courts.

On Jan. 29, the Town posted the bid opportunity on its website, and bids will be unsealed on Feb. 13. Per the document, the Town is seeking a cost estimate on work that would include removing the existing basketball courts at the facility, followed by constructing three pickleball courts on the property. Once the bids are in, the Town Council will award the project to a company.

Building pickleball courts in Clinton has been a major source of conversation and controversy over the last year.

Early in 2023, a group of citizens spoke out about the lack of available pickleball courts. To alleviate that concern, in May, the Parks and Recreation Commission (PRC) recommended that the Town use a portion of its COVID-19 relief money to replace the basketball court at IRRC with pickleball courts.

A vocal contingent of the public was largely against that idea. At a public hearing in June 2023, a larger than normal crowd turned out to speak against the idea of taking away the basketball court, which speakers said was often used by kids, in favor of a use primarily geared toward adults. The Town Council decided to tweak the proposal to see if the basketball court could be spared.

Initially, it appeared as though a compromise was found. A revised proposal called for building three courts at a spot of undeveloped land off the right field of the baseball field located at IRCC. In August 2023, residents approved spending $209,122 for this project, among other American Rescue Plan Act projects.

However, in November 2023, PRC Chairman Joe Schettino and Parks and Recreation Department Director Robert Potter explained that in the course of doing the preliminary work on the new proposed site, it was discovered electrical conduits were buried where the courts would have been built. That would lead to unexpected costs, which would make the project run above the projected cost.

Faced with either shifting the proposed site closer to the wetlands for $215,000 or building only two courts instead of three for $124,000, the two men recommended the Town follow the original plan of converting the basketball court to pickleball courts.

Not only would converting the basketball court allow the Town to have three pickleball courts for $157,000, but the courts would already have lighting and a walkway, which the other proposals did not.

In light of the new cost estimates, the council members agreed with the assessment from Potter and Schettino to move forward with the original plan of replacing the basketball court.

Chris Aniskovich, then the chairperson of the Town Council, said that the council had to make the best long-term decision for the town.

Potter said that despite what some people have claimed, the basketball court at the complex is not regulation-sized, nor is it frequently used. Potter said it would get more use as a pickleball court.