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Date: 11/21/2023
WILBRAHAM — The future of pickleball courts at Memorial School was on a roller coaster ride over the course of the two Select Board meetings. After first receiving the board’s approval, an opinion from the town counsel threw plans for the courts into upheaval.
At the Nov. 6 meeting, Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Bill Scatolini said he and Parks and Recreation Director Bryan Litz were interested in building pickleball courts at the rear left of the Memorial School property, as laid out in the recently completed Memorial School Study. The two were seeking the Select Board’s support for the project, for which $300,000 in community preservation funding had been approved at the May 15 town meeting.
Select Board member Susan Bunnell said the parking is already constrained at Spec Pond Park, making the addition of pickleball courts there less than ideal. “It makes sense to put those courts at Memorial School,” she said, despite undetermined plans for the future of the property. Select Board Chair Theresa Goodrich and member Michael Squindo agreed, and the board voted to approve the plan.
At the Nov. 13 Select Board Meeting, however, Town Administrator Nick Breault announced that Town Counsel Brian Winner had expressed a legal opinion that using community preservation funds to build the courts would make them a town-owned recreation facility triggering and Article 97 of the state’s Public Land Preservation Act. If the town were to sell the property in the future, it would have to be approved at a Town Meeting and receive approval by the state legislature. The town would also be required to find a replacement property of the same size for public recreational purposes.
Squindo said Article 97 generally applies to conservation land and called the attorneys opinion “speculative.”
Goodrich said that the information did not change her mind on the matter, noting the playing fields and playground on the site are already recreational in nature.
Community Preservation Committee Chair Tracy Plantier volunteered that the existing recreational facilities may be exempt from Article 97 because the property was a school at the time they were built. However, the language in the Town Meeting warrant that authorized the funding specifically stated the courts would be built on recreational land. Placing them at Memorial School would eliminate any question of what category the property falls under and ensure Article 97 would be in effect, Plantier argued.
Plantier went on to say that some residents already have negative opinions about the Community Preservation Committee and worried the pickleball court issue would be “a perfect situation for them to grab onto” in any effort to undermine the program.
Breault said there was a “lack of belief and trust” in the information he delivered and asked that Winner publicly state his opinion. Goodrich disagreed that there was any dispute over the validity of the information Breault had relayed. Squindo added that he respects Winner’s opinion despite disagreeing with the law.
Plantier said that because of the way the article was written, the Community Preservation Committee cannot release the money for the pickleball courts unless they are on land officially declared recreation property.
“Tracey is just going to keep going on so she can get her way,” Litz commented, before adding there is no category for “recreation land.”
Goodrich halted the discussion. It was decided that Winner should declare his opinion in front of at least one member of the board. If the opinion he previously stated stands, construction of the pickleball courts would move forward.