Social media lit up earlier this month as signs of construction appeared at the Adams Middle School tennis courts. Curious residents couldn’t help but speculate at what was happening on State Street. According to Parks and Recreation Director Rick Maynard, the answer is simple: renovation.

According to Maynard, the decades-old courts are slated to be refurbished and realigned, and pickleball courts will be added. Additional parking is also part of the plan.

“This will be a full redo of the courts. They are quite busy over there now, and the project is going well. We are expanding the parking size; actually, we are doubling the parking lot size, and to do that, we have to shift the courts about 20 feet south. So, the footprint will be much the same, just shifted that 20 feet,” said Maynard. “We really felt expanding the lot was important, not just for the courts, but for any school events, to allow more room to accommodate guests.”

According to Maynard, the project will increase the current spaces from 14 to 28.

The new courts will still retain two full-sized tennis courts but now also incorporate four lined pickleball courts within that court spacing. According to Maynard, signs at the courts will be posted that delineate which sport gets priority and at what time.

“There will still be two tennis courts as it always was. And those convert to pickleball courts. Obviously, you can’t play pickleball courts and tennis at the same time. What we had done in the past was put signage on the fence alerting folks what sport has priority and when,” said Maynard. “So, if, for example, if someone shows up to play tennis at a time when pickleball has priority, tennis is welcome to play if no one is using the courts, but if pickleballers show up, they would receive priority, and the same for them if the situation was reversed. We simply have to share the courts.”

Maynard said he is anticipating the project will be completed by mid-June. According to Maynard, the Park and Recreation Department is coordinating closely with High School buildings and grounds officials, as those Guilford High School courts are also slated for a summer renovation.

Maynard said it was a priority to ensure that both courts are not down and unusable at the same time.

“It was important to us to get this done in the spring, the high school courts are being done this summer, and we didn’t want all of the courts down at once. We wanted to ensure Adams was completed and being played on well before the high school courts get shut down,” said Maynard.

According to Maynard, the need for the renovations were predicated on the extreme age of the surfacing and the fact that federal ARPA funds are now available to mitigate the cost to Guilford taxpayers.

“Age of the courts was a huge factor. I’m not actually sure of their age, they’ve been here longer than I have, and I’ve been here 32 years, so they were the original courts. We patched the cracks in the courts for all those years, so it’s just time to redo the space. We got ARPA funds to do it,” said Maynard.

Maynard added, “I think this is great for the tennis players and the pickleball players. We won’t have to worry about cracks and worry about anyone getting hurt tripping on a crack or defect. The most important aspect is safety. It’s simply time to redo them, and hopefully, users will be pleased with the final result.”

The project will not be adding lights to the courts, so evening use is not permitted, said Maynard.