Riverside Park close to becoming home of pickleball in Oakmont

Pickleball is within sight for Oakmont residents.

Borough Manager Scot Fodi said the basketball courts at Oakmont Borough Park are in the process of being converted into a three-court pickleball facility. The new basketball court planned for the upper level of the park is moving along at a pace similar to the pickleball courts.

“Asphalt was placed at the basketball court and then down at the pickleball court,” Fodi said.

The project is in a “holding pattern,” he said.

“The asphalt has to cure,” Fodi said. “The initial shiny, oily surface has to evaporate in the road, and then the contractor will be able to put down playing surfaces and the lines and the stripes.”

After the lines cure, the courts will be opened to the public.

There isn’t a set date for the park updates to be finished, nor is there one for the pickleball courts, Fodi said.

A patio also was placed on the western end of the basketball court for a proposed outdoor kitchen area.

“The recreation board thought it would be an interesting asset to the park that you can offer an outdoor kitchen along with the pavilion,” Fodi said.

Next steps would include discussing making the basketball court semi-enclosed. Footers were placed so the borough can erect a high-roof pavilion with interior lighting over the court. Council members also are discussing solar panels for the pavilion roof to make the court area self-sustaining.

“(Recreation board members) were just focusing on the grant first to get the court going, but we can certainly look at that next,” Fodi said about the solar panels.

Council members voted in May to award the contract for the Oakmont Borough Park Improvement project to Dun Rite Construction & Paving of Tarentum. The project of about $251,000 is being paid for with local tax money and a state Gaming Economic Development Tourism Fund grant administered by Allegheny County.