Pickleball and parks upgrade

ZANESVILLE -  A crew from the City of Zanesville has been transforming the basketball court at Maple Hill Park into a pickelball court, as part of a $29,000 project paid for in part by a ODNR Nature Works Grant. The grant will cover 75 percent of the cost of the project, up to $22,000. An additional $1,500 was raised by local pickleball players.

City Public Service Director Jay Bennett said a group of players approached him about a place to play during the warmer months and he took a look at city parks. The basketball court at Maple Hill Park was underutilized and deemed a perfect place for a court. Building the court includes paving, painting, new nets and fencing.

A separate project to improve the park includes repaving the parking lot and putting a new roof on the shelter house. The entire project is expected to be completed in September.

The project is one of many in the works in the city. A dog park at Riverside Park is in the planning stages and additional work at the park will include paving and drainage projects and a new roof on one of the shelters near the river. The Kidzville project has been pushed back to the spring to allow for more community involvement and a second phase of Kidzville, a splash park, is in the early planning stages. The city is looking at improving several parks over the next few years as money from grants and the city budget becomes available.

Additionally, the city has applied for grants for a downtown trail along the Muskingum River Canal including an ODOT Transportation Alternatives Program grant to complete the trail and an ODOT recreational trails grant for lighting. The city has been working with the National Parks Service to plan a trail south along the Muskingum River from Putnam Landing Park.