Mattapoisett says no to pickleball courts, but OKs basketball

May 10, 2022

MATTAPOISETT — A proposal to allocate $55,000 of Community Preservation Act Funds to reconstruct the Center School basketball courts and extend them to add pickleball courts was contested at Mattapoisett’s town meeting on May 9. 

Community Preservation Act funds allocate a portion of property tax funds for projects in specific categories such as historic preservation and open space. However, questions were raised about the research that had been done for this proposal.

Resident Carly Lavin asked if other locations had been looked at for pickleball courts, adding that at the Center School “that is the only green space where children can play.” 

Kevin Tavares, current associate principal of Old Hammondtown School/Center School, stated that he “hadn’t heard of any of these plans” and requested to see a map. No map of these plans was available at the meeting.

Chuck McCullough, the chair of the Community Preservation committee, said that the decision to redo the courts came up after they were “approached by a couple of kids to do so.”

He added that while the committee was there, they thought they could add the two pickleball courts. 

Resident Peter Turowski took the mic, saying that he lives near the school and there has “not been enough study on this.” 

Turowski mentioned that this is a significant drainage area, and there is a lack of play area for students. Turowski moved to amend the motion to designate $30,000 for the reconstruction of the two basketball courts, deleting the language about pickleball from the warrant entirely.

The amendment passed with a vote of 140 to 4, and then the town voted to approve it with a vote of 142 to 2.