CONWAY — After facing some resident opposition to building pickleball courts on the South River Meadow, the Parks and Recreation Committee is exploring a lot behind the Conway Grammar School.

The committee is exploring Lot 8.3 behind the elementary school, which is a mostly open, town-owned 4-acre parcel with a few clusters of trees in the northwestern, central and southeastern portions of the plot. The land currently sits unused, but parts of it could be used by the neighboring Highway Department in future years, according to Highway Superintendent Ron Sweet.

“We’re here to ask you first if you think it might be an appropriate use of that land,” said Parks and Recreation Committee Chair Jan Warner, who is also the town’s treasurer/tax collector. “(Sweet) had some plans for it, but he feels he could fit it in.”

Sweet said the land is “valuable” to the Highway Department as a storage area, but also feels Conway could be “left out” among its neighbors if the town doesn’t build some permanent courts somewhere.

It won’t be Conway’s first foray into the fast-growing sport either, as the former Parks, Recreation and Trails Committee approved and set up courts with tape and nets on the town’s basketball courts and implemented an online sign-up website in 2022. The move has been a huge success, too, with Warner noting that 80% of the 80 players who have signed up to play pickleball are Conway residents.

After getting the blessing of both Sweet and Conway Grammar School Principal Kristen Gordon, Warner said the committee wanted to bring the proposal before the Selectboard before it tries to secure approval from the Community Preservation Committee.

Currently, the committee’s conceptual ideas include placing courts behind the school and the creation of a small gravel parking lot for players.

One of the main issues raised by the Selectboard was use of the school’s driveway to access the courts during school pickup and dropoff of students. 

“I’m not the nervous hand-wringing type,” said Selectboard Chair Philip Kantor. “The kids coming out of school at pickup … that strikes me as potential for unwanted interactions with automobiles traveling.”

Warner said the town could always limit usage of the park around 3 p.m. during the school year and most people typically play after work around 4 or 5 p.m. In the summer, she added, people play throughout the day, but school pickup won’t be a concern then.

With Gordon’s backing of the idea, the Selectboard voted to approve the use of pickleball courts behind the school and now the Parks and Recreation Committee will need to get its site design complete and secure CPA funding to move forward with the project.

“Based on the principal having given her blessing, that’s huge for me,” Kantor said.

Warner said an initial cost estimate, which will likely change with the design of the site plan, is set at $115,000.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.