Arbor Vitae, Woodruff getting bids for pickleball courts at Brandy Lake Park

When the Woodruff town board meets in June, it will be the first to open bids for work at Brandy Park that will include establishment of two pickleball courts.

That was discussed at the May 14 meeting of the Woodruff town board and Arbor Vitae town chairman Frank Bauers made the announcement at the May 15 Arbor Vitae town board meeting. 

The towns have been partners in Brandy Lake Park since the early 1960s and had met jointly with the Brandy Park Commission on May 7 to discuss the pickleball court issue; the commission had been approached in September of last year by a group led by Heidi Fink to raise money to get pickleball courts installed at Brandy Lake Park. 

The commission gave permission to proceed as the understanding was the pickleball court funding would be raised privately. 

Earlier this year, Fink told the commission the fundraising effort had stopped, citing a lack of participation from possible donors.

The decision to convert one of the current Brandy Lake Park tennis courts into two pickleball courts was made as result of the May 7 joint meeting. 

“In the meantime, the group that was raising money for the pickleball courts is back up and going,” Bauers said at last week’s meeting. 

Town supervisor Pam Carroll summarized what the plan would be should the group raise enough money which was to establish new pickleball courts and switch the two pickleball courts back to a tennis court. 

“Every pickleball court around here that I’ve checked on, the ones at Pioneer Park in Rhinelander, all self-funded,” Bauers said. “The ones in Manitowish Waters, $200,000 for eight courts, self-funded. Eagle River, $43,000, all self-funded. So, it can be done. It just takes some work to do it.”

“They need resurfaced anyway,” town supervisor Ashley Roach said of the Brandy Lake Park tennis courts. “Regardless of what gets put on them.” 

“We’re splitting the cost,” Carroll said. “I think the biggest thing for our board to understand is we are splitting the cost with Woodruff township because we do the park together. So, whatever it is, they’re paying half and we’re paying half.”

Town clerk Emily Biertzer said bids for the work will be accepted “in this next month.”

“At Woodruff’s first town board meeting in June, they will open the sealed bids and ... make a motion on what bid they want to accept and at our next meeting the next week, we will look at those same bids.”

Bauers made the point that at the town’s annual meeting on April 18, town residents authorized taking out a loan of up to $55,000 to cover half the cost to do work on the courts he said “would come in well below” what had been initially estimated.

“All we have to do is get the final figure,” he said. 

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].