Peru hears public interest; weighs future pickleball court projects

Fans of the growing sport of pickleball may soon have more courts to play in Peru as the City Council will explore court options after hearing interest from residents.

Members of the have received letters and emails from members of the community that have called for the city to explore its options moving forward.

Alderman and Chairman of the Finance Committee Tom Payton said he has been aware of this interest from the public as plans have been put into motion.

“We are aware of it and we are working diligently to try and figure out where we could put more courts,” Payton said. “I know that Engineer (Eric) Carls and his teams are trying to get the designs to us for Washington Park and I know up at Veterans Park we’re looking at possibly putting courts up there.”

The city has five courts players can use for pickleball in multiple locations throughout Washington Park. Three of the courts are located where the ice skating rink is, meaning they are not available for use when the rink is in service.

The call for more courts within the city has also come with local interest in hosting various pickleball tournaments.

Illinois Valley Pickleball Ambassador Joe Majors has been active speaking with Mayor Ken Kolowski and scoping out possible locations. Majors also indicated to Kolowski that his group may be interested in painting some of the new courts themselves.

While the city is encouraged by the public interest, they wanted to ensure that if something is going to be done, they are going through the proper channels in Director of Parks and Recreation Adam Thorson and Engineer Carls.

“As much as Majors wants to do this and contribute; I just think it’s better that the city does it,” Payton said. “When we have someone who is not an employee of the city, do work for the city and if they were to get hurt, it opens the city to liability.”

Alderman Mike Sapienza also added those groups interested in helping with this cause are more than welcome to collect funds and provide a donation to the city earmarked for pickleball.

While many on the council said they appreciated Majors enthusiasm toward a possible project, they wanted to let the public know they are working on plans, if approved, would be handled within the city.

“People might say that we don’t want their help,” Payton said. “We do want their help, we want their involvement. But there’s a proper way to do it. Go through Parks and Rec.”

Thorson also said he has heard from the group in the past and these ideas have also been discussed at the Parks Board level.

While Carls said he will still need quotes from various factors in building pickleball Courts before he could estimate an official cost to the city, he estimated a designated pickleball location could cost somewhere between $150,000 to $200,000 or more.

“It’s been a work in progress in my office since it came to us,” Carls said. “The requests for extension of pickleball courts and the number of courts has been more recent. That’s why we’re looking at Veterans Park as an option.”

Recently the city has explored the costs associated with the resurfacing of the Washington Park courts in need of repair.

“New designs of the tennis courts or pickleball courts are preliminary,” Kolowski said. “We’re getting there. We need fencing bids and stuff like that to put it all together.”

“Our primary focus to date has been the rehab and reconstruction of the Washington Park Courts,” Carls said. “I’m hoping by one of the next two council meetings we’ll have a more complete plan for the council to consider.”

The city’s engineering department will continue planning this project and will return to present it to the council for consideration. The city welcomes Majors and any others who are interested in providing their thoughts to attend future meetings.