North Middletown's McMahon Park Getting 6 Pickleball Courts

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown Twp. plans to install six pickleball courts at McMahon Park in North Middletown this spring.

The six new courts are part of a larger renovation of McMahon Park. Middletown also plans to completely redo the playground at McMahon, making it an inclusive playground that children with special needs can also enjoy.

“The funds will be used to give the playground a complete overhaul,” said Mayor Tony Perry. “It will be the Township’s second fully inclusive playground — the other is at Croydon Hall — and will include rubber surfacing, as opposed to the more common wood chip surface, creating even greater accessibility.”

“We’ll be starting out with six courts so the pickleball community will have a place to call their own,” said Township Administrator Tony Mercantante. “We’re currently reviewing proposals from engineering firms for the design phase and anticipate that the project will begin in late spring.”

In total, the McMahon Park project will cost $400,000.

Last year, Middletown submitted the McMahon Park proposal to Monmouth County. This January, Middletown was given $200,000 from the county's Open Space Trust Fund to build the courts.

Middletown Twp. will issue a bond to fund the remaining $200,000. The bond was introduced at the most recent Township Committee meeting on Jan. 18. It was only introduced, not yet approved.

“The Township Committee and I introduced a bond ordinance at the last meeting for capital improvements to the playground at McMahon Park," said Perry.

Monmouth County gave 19 towns Open Space grant money this January: Highlands got $200,000 to build a skatepark at Snug Harbor; see a rendering here: https://highlandsborough.org/w...

Eatontown received $48,000 to build a splash pad/water park. The splash pad will be located in an entirely new park Eatontown is building, Nicodemus Park.

Construction on all of these projects is expected to start this spring.

Here are all the Monmouth County towns that will get funding for park improvements in 2022 (all matching grants):

• Township of Millstone Clarksburg Cultural Center, Phase III $150,000.00
• Township of Colts Neck Improvements to Laird Road Recreation Center and Five Points Park $140,000.00
• Township of Wall Pickleball Courts at Camp Evans $ 134,000.00
• Borough of Eatontown Nicodemus Park Splash Pad Project $ 48,000.00
• Borough of Fair Haven Spagnuolo Property Acquisition $ 250,000.00
• Borough of Bradley Beach ADA Park Improvements at Lake Terrace Park $ 70,000.00
• Borough of Oceanport Pickleball Court and Community Garden Project $53,000.00
• Borough of Highlands Snug Harbor Skate Park Project $200,000.00
• Borough of Manasquan Improvements to Curtis Park Phase II $ 150,000.00
• Borough of Keyport 2021 Park Improvement Project $ 140,000.00
• Township of Middletown McMahon Park Improvements Project $ 200,000.00
• Township of Aberdeen Cambridge Park Improvements $ 150,000.00
• Borough of Monmouth Beach Griffin Park Improvements $ 100,000.00
• Borough of Neptune City Improvements to Adams Field Phase II $ 200,000.00
• Borough of Atlantic Highlands 2022 Open Space Acquisition $ 250,000.00
• Township of Hazlet North Hazlet Community Park $ 250,000.00
• Township of Holmdel Pedestrian & Bikeway Plan Phase 1 $ 114,000.00
• Borough of Red Bank Various Park Improvements Phase III $ 100,000.00
• Borough of Freehold Various Park Improvements $ 117,000.00

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Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com