Riverside’s village board got a first look at the potential design of the new multiuse court coming to Blythe Park Elementary School next year.
The court, which is set to replace the existing tennis court on village-owned property, will feature Riverside’s first dedicated pickleball court alongside a junior-sized basketball court that has reduced dimensions compared to a full-size court.
The courts will be used by the school during school hours and will be available to residents otherwise, according to a village memo.
As part of an intergovernmental agreement approved in March, the village is in charge of replacing the tennis court while Riverside School District 96 is on the hook to build a new playground, also on land owned by Riverside. The village will be responsible for maintaining both the new court and the playground.
Ron Malchiodi, Riverside’s parks and recreation director, said original discussions included a full-size basketball court, which was shrunk down to ensure the pickleball court could fit.
“It would all be encompassed on the existing footprint” of the tennis court, he said.
Elsewhere in town, pickleball is played on tennis courts, like at Indian Gardens or Harrington Park.
“We recently had some correspondence from someone stating that we don’t have a perfectly regulation pickleball court; we have converted tennis courts that don’t quite meet the standards. We will have one now,” Village President Doug Pollock said.
Malchiodi said a short fence could be installed between the two new courts to prevent basketball gameplay from interfering with pickleball gameplay or vice versa.
He said a perimeter fence around the entire multiuse court would be unlikely to be installed due to the court’s distance from the street, but the details are not yet finalized.
In addition to basketball and pickleball, Malchiodi said there will also be painted lines so students can play four square, kickball and hopscotch. If students wanted to play soccer, they could do so with pop-up goals that fit under the baskets on the basketball court, he said.
“When we refer to it as a multipurpose court, it will be very true to that,” he said.
Trustees originally approved a separate agreement with D96 in June 2024 to paint lines for those other games on the existing tennis court, as well as to repaint the tennis and pickleball lines on the court. The school district later opted not to paint the court due to initial discussions at the time about replacing the playground and putting in the new courts.
The village board agreed to have staff proceed to seek quotes for the project with the multiuse court design as shown.
