Town officials last week approved an approximately $70,000 contract to install a new patio area outside the hugely popular pickleball courts at Mead Park.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the new bluestone patio will be installed in the northwest area of the park, though funds for the project are available in the current budget year, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann, meaning they could be released quickly.
When the town installed five pickleball courts two years ago where a single public hard-surface tennis had been located, the footprint of the new playing area created some leftover room, Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held June 6 at Town Hall and via videoconference.
“So now we have a large area of unused space that right now is gravel,” Mann said. “When we met with the DOJ they felt that the gravel is not a suitable material. Also the gravel itself is being tracked onto the courts, on players’ shoes and it could lead to an early degradation of the playing surface so we would like to install a nice bluestone patio throughout, with landscaping.”
Mann referred to the federal government’s findings, issued last October, that public properties in New Canaan have been out-of-compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (here’s a recent update on the town’s efforts to address the violations).
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of a $69,975 contract with Norwalk-based Fortino Escalante, Inc. for the patio and related work.
Asked by Moynihan whether the town put the job out to bid, Mann said no, since Fortino Escalante had done “excellent work” in similar jobs at the Mead Park Lodge and new bluestone walkways near the Eberle Fountain in Waveny.
“I went to Forinto directly,” he said. “I felt his work warranted that and when we compared his pricing from each location it’s commensurate.”
Mann said that Town Engineer Maria Coplit “did an excellent job in the design” of the new patio area.
In April, town officials said they’re looking to reconfigure the parking lot that serves the pickleball courts because of the dramatically increasing popularity of the facility.