GEORGETOWN – Indoor pickleball did not come up a winner in Michael Donahue’s on-line survey of whether the town should use a $1 million donation to build a facility for four courts at the East Main Street Recreational Area.
In its place, the Parks & Recreation Commission voted four to zero to accept a new proposal by Selectman and Parks Commission Chair Donahue and long-time developer Jim Bussing Sr., who has donated the $1 million, to build several outdoor tennis courts and pickleball courts on a portion of the recreational area’s parking lot.
The recreational area, which has a ballfield and playground, has been renamed the Jim Bussing Sr. Recreation Area after the SelectBoard voted to accept the donation.
Bussing, working with the town’s Conservation Commission (ConCom), headed by 20-plus-year chair Carl Sheder, donated the land for the recreational area to the ConCom in exchange for a waiver to build houses on another site.
The land was later divided with the Parks & Recreational Commission acquiring a large portion of it, while the ConCom kept the pond and other wetlands portion.
In a recap of the survey delivered to the SelectBoard, Donahue wrote: “Among Georgetown residents only, support (for the indoor pickleball facility) is 52.8 percent, opposition 33.7 percent and neutral 13.5 percent. Support is solid, but not overwhelming.”
Of those who supported the facility, 40 percent indicated they strongly supported it, while 15 percent strongly opposed spending $1 million on a new facility that might cost the town to maintain it.
A total of 105 people filled out the survey out of 6,636 views. The survey was distributed through FaceBook, several Georgetown community sites and Donahue’s SelectBoard page.
Bussing and Donahue had set a goal in the survey that support must be “overwhelming.”
The new proposal would also include adding a fishing dock on the pond, which would have to be approved by the ConCom.
In other business, Donahue told the commission that the docks on Pentucket Lake are now available for fishing and swimming. The town’s purchase of one small dock to replace two larger docs stirred a controversy and spawned speculation that the new docks paid for with Community Preservation Funds had gone missing.
The Highway Department used pieces of the old docks with pieces of the new smaller docks to create two larger docks.
The commission postponed a decision on ridding the ponds of their extensive weeds that make boating and swimming difficult until it gets more information. It was noted that it is too late in the summer to treat the weeds.
