JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

Pickleball enthusiasts in St. Lazare are asking the city to consider building dedicated playing courts to meet the rising demand as the sport continues to gain popularity.

“It’s exploded so much that we’re worried about not having enough pickleball courts,” said Lina Salvati, a spokesperson from Club de Pickleball de Saint-Lazare earlier this summer.

The club wants the city build dedicated pickleball courts instead of having to play on the tennis courts that have been reconfigured.

The two pickleball courts where residents can play are at Saddlebrook Park and the other at Chaline Valley Park.

“Our goal is to hopefully have 10 dedicated courts just for pickleball,” Salvati told The 1019 Report.

“We want the town to build them immediately, but they told us their long-term projection is five years. Preferably, we would want to have them tomorrow or yesterday,” Salvati said.

As pickleball increases in popularity, so does the demand for more courts to be built to accommodate the rising demand.

“When our club started about three years ago, there were 20 members,” Salvati said earlier this summer. “Now, there are over 300 members on our Facebook page. It’s going to explode.”

“Every city in Quebec is starting to build their own courts,” she said. “If you look at St. Jerome and Sorel, all these places have beautiful installations, so, of course, we want our city to have them, too.”

St. Lazare is currently considering whether it will build additional pickleball courts as part of its urban planning review.

Mayor Geneviève Lachance said adding new and different sports infrastructure will be considered when the town updates its parks master plan.