Heather Wright/The Independent

Two St. Clair groups want to help improve recreation facilities in the southern part of the township.

Recently, council heard requests for new LED lights at Eric Mackenzie Field in Courtright and the creation of pickleball courts at Brander Park.

Chris VanGrimbergh was advocating for the new ball park lights. 

“The current lighting system is outdated and efficient and costly to maintain,” he told council. “We would look to replace the current system with new energy efficient LED lighting. There’s a couple different ways to do that, either retrofitting it or removing the posts and putting in a whole new system. 

“This would be more than a repair,” VanGrimbergh said. “It’s an investment in the field’s future, which we hope to continue to use.” 

VanGrimbergh says the early estimates suggest more than $400,000 will be needed for the project “which is obviously a significant cost.”

He expected the new lights would not only improve play and safety, it would use only 25 per cent of the power now required to light the field.

“That field obviously, was built by volunteers, money was raised by volunteers, and we’ve enjoyed that for the past 30-plus years, and again, with little to no cost to the township for all that free labor that Eric Mackenzie put in that field,” VanGrimbergh said.

He noted the community would again want to raise money for the project suggesting the initial goal would be to provide up to $200,000 with the municipality investing the same amount.

There was also a pitch to build two pickleball courts at Brander Park. John Van Heck, who plays pickleball, came to council suggesting the township should invest in infrastructure for the fastest growing sport in North America.

“It’s inclusive of all ages, all levels of skill can play, and a very good player can play, so everybody can join in the game of pickleball,” Van Heck said, adding, “there could be leagues, tournaments to bring people together.”

The pickleballers are suggesting two courts south of the main picnic area at the park. “It’s not so close that you’d be interrupting anybody that’s in that part of the park, where people hang out and have their picnics,” he said. The area also has trees and berms to shield the courts from the wind.

St. Clair recently refurbished its Corunna tennis courts, adding pickleball lines to them. Brigden also has pickleball courts. The game is also played in Sombra at a multi-purpose pad installed last year. 

Both the lights at the Mackenzie ball diamond and the pickleball court project will be brought to council during budget for discussion.

There was some early support at council. “This is the third time it has been brought to me in the last little while that the need for pickleball courts is very strong down there,” said Councillor Brad Langstaff, adding he hopes to support it “sooner or later.”