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Residents press Shrewsbury to change planned pickleball fencing; parks director says plans will remain
Summary
A resident urged design changes to planned four-foot fencing for Wehner Park pickleball courts, including removing the dividing fence and increasing sideline clearances; Parks Director Chris Buck told the resident the city will not change the existing plans. Parks staff reported construction progress and an expected early-July completion delay due to weather.
Resident Michael G'Sell delivered written comments urging changes to the planned four-foot fencing around new pickleball courts, saying the design posed safety risks and proposing removing the dividing fence, reducing spacing between courts to 9 feet without a divider, increasing the distance from each court sideline to exterior fencing to 8.5 feet, and adding a plastic safety tubing along the top of the fencing. G'Sell also suggested painting pickleball lines on tennis courts to increase available courts and noted examples in nearby communities.
According to the written remark read into the record, Parks Director Chris Buck told G'Sell "we're not making any changes to the existing plans." The transcript records Buck confirming measurements in the plans (6.5 feet from sidelines to fence and a 13-foot separation between courts when the divider remains in place) and explaining the divider was intended to prevent players from different courts running into one another.
Director Buck's departmental report later the same meeting noted the Wehner Park sports court project is progressing: concrete has been poured for the tennis court, work on the pickleball courts has begun, weather has delayed completion to early July, and staff are installing a new HVAC unit and making pool repairs ahead of opening. The record does not show the board directing changes to the pickleball design or authorizing funding for design modifications.
The transcript did not include a formal response from the board beyond the Parks Department's earlier confirmation that it would not change the current plans. The written submission by G'Sell and other public-comment suggestions (including website contact and meeting-packet distribution requests from James Holmes) were entered as pre-submitted comments and read into the record.
