Select Board eyes Indian Ln. drainage fix, pickleball courts

The Canton Select Board agreed at its January 7 meeting to submit placeholder articles on the Annual Town Meeting warrant to address drainage problems on Indian Lane and build six new pickleball courts at Pequitside Farm.

Select Board Chair Mike Loughran said he is also awaiting cost estimates from the Canton Public Library for the next stage of its renovations and plans to have further talks with town finance officials regarding the availability of funds in the coming fiscal year.

If funds are not available at the May town meeting, Loughran said he would ask the Select Board to use mitigation funds to finance at least one of the projects, with the top priority being the Indian Lane drainage issue.

Loughran said the drainage problems have been ongoing for several years and cause ponding on the roadway and slippery conditions during the winter months.

Town Engineer Alfons Koka outlined plans to the board at Tuesday’s meeting and estimated the costs to be around $455,000. The drainage improvements would focus on two sections of the roadway (159 and 59 Indian Lane), with the DPW doing much of the engineering and surveying work. Koka said the actual construction would take two to three months.

The pickleball proposal was originally pitched by the Parks & Recreation Department in 2020, and with vocal support from officials at the Canton Senior Center, the project quickly gained momentum and was approved for a Community Preservation Act (CPA) grant totaling $116,600 at that year’s town meeting. However, when the original bid came in well above that figure at $157,000, officials decided to put the project on hold and the appropriated funds were subsequently returned to the town treasury. The courts were then presented for funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) program, but the project had to be “shovel ready” in December in order to receive the federal funding.

The current plans call for six courts to be built at Pequitside Farm near the community garden site. The courts would be asphalt-concrete, and costs are estimated at between $675,000 and $700,000, although they could potentially realize some savings with the donation of excess fill from Canton Holdings, operators of the Revere Heritage Site, who have already agreed to assist the town with this effort.

Currently, there are no plans to have lighting at the courts, and Loughran and Koka agreed that the location is suitable and would not cause any noise problems …

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Posted by Mike Berger on Jan 10 2025. Filed under Top Stories. Both comments and pings are currently closed.