SB member pitches new plan for pickleball courts

By Mike Berger

Select Board member Mike Loughran has a new plan for building pickleball courts in town, thanks to the Bank of Canton’s willingness to locate the courts at the back of their corporate headquarters on Route 138. Loughran said the courts are 1,000 feet away from the nearest residence.

Loughran recently submitted a request to the Canton Community Preservation Committee (CCPC) for $423,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to pay for the project, which calls for the construction of six new courts. Loughran told the Select Board Tuesday that the CCPC responded positively to the proposal at its meeting on Monday night.

Loughran said if the costs were to exceed $423,000, he would either return to the Select Board to request mitigation funds or seek other financial resources.

Loughran’s effort to build the courts at Pequitside Farm was defeated at the May Annual Town Meeting in part due to cost concerns and a lack of notice to abutters.

Although no formal vote was taken at Tuesday’s meeting, board members agreed to send a letter of support for the project to the CCPC.

Loughran said to get the project approved, it would need the CCPC vote for funds, an approval of the Bank of Canton to transfer or lease the property to the town; approval by voters at the 2026 Annual Town Meeting; and site plan approval by the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. Loughran said the town engineer’s office will design the plans for the courts.

Select Board Chair JR McCourt said Loughran’s project appears to be a good solution to the problem. “The main problem has been we do not want to disturb any of the neighbors,” McCourt noted.

The CCPC is expected to discuss all FY27 funding requests in the coming weeks with a decision expected by early December.

In other news from Tuesday’s meeting:

* Town Administrator Charles Doody announced that a list of local food resources has been posted on the town website to help SNAP recipients in Canton who are impacted by the ongoing federal government shutdown. Diane Tynan, director of the Department of Elder & Human Services, said there are 2,279 SNAP recipients in Canton, and in a message to Doody, Tynan urged the Canton community to help these individuals in any way they can …

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