Recreation Board hears pickleball court, skate park updates

The City of Oxford Parks and Recreation expects to go out for bid on a new skate park this fall, Director Chad Smith told the Oxford Free Press following a Recreation Board meeting May 11.

The city was awarded $131,815 in Community Development Block Grant funding from the Butler County Commission in February for the skate park, which Smith said will be added to city funds for a total of around $225,000 budgeted. 

During the first week of May, Smith said American Ramp Company was contracted to design the skate park before the project goes out to bid. He said there will likely be an opportunity for public input on the design before it’s built.

Smith said the new park will be somewhere on the grounds of the TRI Community Center at 6025 Fairfield Road, but he’s “trying to find a good home” for it at the moment.

Smith said the city is anticipating construction on the park to take place over the winter of 2026-27 and for it to open in the spring of 2027.

In the meantime, the city is working on installing the new pickleball courts in the space of the old skate park, which Smith said will hopefully be completed in late June.

During the May 11 meeting, Smith told the board the original plan had been to duplicate the current tennis and four pickleball courts on the site of the old skate park, but the recreation department discovered a tennis court would not fit in that space, as it would be too wide.

Instead, the department has decided to install two additional pickleball courts for a total of six new courts.

Contractors were on the site of the anticipated courts during the week of May 11 installing footers and sleeves for the net posts, and Smith said another contractor will be coming this month to pave and eventually paint the courts.

The courts ended up costing around $70,000 total from the city’s capital budget and the TRI Board, the private group that owns the TRI Community Center.

Other project updates, proposals

In other business, Smith told the Recreation Board the city met its goal to start a battery recycling program.

According to sustainability coordinator Reena Murphy, the program is free for residents and will cost the city an estimated $2,000 annually. Murphy said the city has not yet selected a vendor for this year’s round of recycling, but it will request quotes once it knows how many pounds of batteries it needs to recycle.

“We started battery recycling in response to resident requests and to support community safety,” Murphy said in an email to the Oxford Free Press, adding batteries are a fire hazard if they’re put in the normal trash, and Rumpke does not accept recycled batteries curbside. “Our drop-off ensures the batteries get recycled and that we’re doing our part to protect the health and safety of solid waste workers.”

Murphy said the city is accepting used household batteries only at the Oxford Municipal Building at 15 S. College Ave. and at the Oxford Police Department at 101 E. High St. Each end of the battery must be taped with electrical or clear tape. Both alkaline and lithium-ion, or rechargeable, household batteries are accepted as long as they fit in the receptacle.

Smith also told the board, once the new restrooms are completed at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in Uptown Oxford, they will have electric capacity, as well as outlets, on the backside of the building, which should negate the need for several generators at park events and reduce noise pollution.

Smith said the restrooms are now expected to be completed sometime in June.

The recreation department is also working with Wild Ones, a private group that promotes native landscapes, to consider recommendations from an environmental naturalization plan created by Miami University students, which Smith said could be added to the master plan that is currently being developed. 

The “pilot area” for the naturalization efforts, he said, could be the natural trail at the Oxford Community Park, which begins behind the playground and leads to Wayne Ridge, by removing some invasive species from the understory and planting more native plants.

Smith also discussed projects that the department wants to research, including creating a self-guided food or tree tour, potentially at the Oxford Community Park, as part of the master plan. He also discussed the possibility of installing a fitness pad along the trail at the park.

Smith said the department explored using a University of Cincinnati Health grant last year for an outdoor fitness pad, which is capped at $50,000 and requires a city match of around $150,000 to $200,000.

The department is also looking into hosting a half-marathon in conjunction with future Oxford Bee Festivals. This year, the city hosted the O.A.T.S. n’ Honey 5K/10K, and Smith said the idea of additional miles to the event seems plausible.

Smith said the public pool at the Oxford Aquatic Center is set to open May 25, and the TRI Community Center can now offer CPR certification and first aid training for future lifeguards.

Adam Beissel, an associate professor of sports leadership and management at Miami, said as the university begins to transition its intramurals and club sports facilities to Millett Hall and Chestnut Fields, there will need to be discussions between the city and university about access.

He said the recreation facilities on Chestnut Fields are going to feel “disconnected” from the university, as there’s a narrow stretch of road leading to the area and railroad tracks that students will need to cross.

“So (there’s) probably some sort of longer-term vision on the university’s part of how they’re going to reimagine connecting those fields with the university to make it still feel like a campus, to have it well lit, safe, wide enough for people to be walking,” Beissel said. “How does the city cooperate with this new vision of what recreation is going to look like for Miami?”

He also brought up that students may need to use the Chestnut Street Station earlier in the day as a result of the facilities being moved, and there will be a connection with the OATS Trail as part of Phase V. 

“That definitely touches our planning, as well,” Smith said.

The Recreation Board meets on the second Monday of every month. Agendas, including times and meeting locations, are posted on cityofoxford.org.