So, about those pickleball courts planned for Orland Park’s Centennial Park?
The idea was to have them done by this fall, but there has been a change in plans.
Literally.
The board voted 6-1 at its Oct. 19 meeting to amend its agreement with Vernon Hills-based Gewalt Hamilton Associates, adding up to $278,000 for changes to the project.
Khurshid Hoda, the village’s director of engineering, listed some of the changes.
“It will have 12 pickleball courts designed at Centennial Park, where the ice rink is currently located,” he said. “This will add two tennis courts, and it will also update and clean up the two volleyball courts and will add a bathroom facility that will have storage and office space for (the Recreation and Parks department).”
Hoda said six courts could have a shade canopy with lighting underneath. The project also needs 1,000 feet of sanitary lines, 300 feet of freshwater lines and an extension of the parking lots, he said.
Trustee John Lawler is growing weary of how long the project has taken.
“At some point, when are we actually going to get started on this project?” Lawler said. “We’ve been talking about this for months and months and months.
“We’ve been given the expectation that we were going to get this done starting this fall. But now we’re at the point of design work.”
Hoda’s timeline calls for demolishing the ice rink and building at the end of 2026 and starting work on the courts in April or May.
“We are pushing hard that in the fall of 2027, we will be able to play pickleball,” he said.
Trustee Michael Milani cast the lone “no” vote. He questioned spending money on a canopy.
“It still blows my mind about why we want to think about building an 18,000-square-foot canopy over an outdoor sport,” he said. “If you want a canopy, go play it indoors.
“It makes absolutely no sense why we would spend almost $3 million on something like that. I don’t know what else to say except that it doesn’t make sense to me.”
Mayor James Dodge said the amendment is necessary.
“This is the design work so that we can facilitate an informed bid,” Dodge said. “At some point, we have to decide if we want to spend that much on these amenities.
“But we have to do the engineering now because if we get halfway through it and change our mind, it will be hideously expensive. This amendment gives us more facts.”
