‘We are pretty excited.’ New tennis and pickleball courts will replace old courts in Shelley
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SHELLEY — New tennis and pickleball courts are coming to Shelley, thanks to an effort by residents and the city.
“Over a year ago, there was a group of citizens that approached me. Our tennis courts are so old. They are asphalt and there are so many cracks,” Shelley city councilwoman Kim Westergard said. “They were going to school board meetings and asking for a tennis team to be started. They were a huge part of this.”
The new tennis and pickleball courts will be at Curtis Brinkman Park on Hanson Avenue. It was all made possible by a $250,000 grant through the Idaho Community Development Block/CDBG CARES grant.
The grant assists Idaho cities and counties with the development of needed public infrastructure. “The program is administered by Idaho Commerce with funds received annually from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,” according to its website.
“Right now, we have two existing courts that are going to be completely dug out. So there will be four tennis courts, and then I am not a pickleball player…yet! But you can paint pickleball court lines on tennis courts, so there will be eight pickleball courts,” Westergard explained.
It will be known as the Brinkman Park Multi-Sports Court Revitalization Project. There will be lighting installed along with security too.
The old tennis courts were put in 1978 and resurfaced in 1995.
Westergard says she has been on the city council for ten years and this is one of their biggest accomplishments.
“I have been over Parks and Rec for the majority of that and it’s so exciting to bring something that it seems like every community has. Finally, we are bringing it here to our little town. We are pretty excited,” she said. “As we work as a community, things can get done. We can accomplish a lot.”
The project will break ground next year in the spring and is estimated to take a few months to build.
