Do you like to play pickle ball? How about basketball? Maybe tennis?

If so, Barrington officials have some great news for you. Work is currently under way to rebuild the court complexes at Chianese Park and on Kent Street. Crews are currently removing the old tennis, basketball and pickle ball courts at Chianese Park, and the tennis courts on Kent Street as part of the improvement project. 

The demolition work was in full swing this week. At Kent Street, workers removed all the chainlink fences and posts. And at Chianese, most of the chainlink fences were down and excavators dug out the old asphalt surface. On Tuesday, July 2, Carl Zukunft, of Maisano Brothers Paving, used a backhoe to rip out the basketball hoops and the cement footings. 

At its meeting in early April, the Barrington Town Council voted 4-0 to approve a $249,750 bid to Hinding Tennis, LLC, of Branford, Conn. to complete the Chianese court work.

When the construction is finished, there will be four dedicated pickle ball courts, a new basketball court and a new tennis court. The bid will also cover the cost to install new chainlink fencing and concrete flat-work for the installation of benches. The town has been planning the Chianese Park court improvements for more than a year. 

A grant from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management will cover $80,000 of the project. The remainder will come from the town’s allotment of American Rescue Plan Act funding. According to a town memo, the Council previously approved $250,000 in ARPA funding for court resurfacing projects at Chianese and Kent Street.

The Barrington Town Council also signed off on a bid to renovate the Kent Street tennis courts. At their May 6 meeting, Council members voted 3-0 to reallocate money from different American Rescue Plan Act-funded projects to the Kent Street work. They also voted 3-0 to accept a bid from Hinding Tennis, LLC to complete the work. 

At that meeting, Barrington Department of Public Works Director Alan Corvi told Council members that the Kent Street courts were tired and needed to be upgraded. 

He said the project will include new guardrails in the parking area, new fencing, a new playing surface, walkways, erosion controls and landscaping improvements. The courts will be lined for tennis and pickle ball. 

Some of the ARPA funding had previously been earmarked for different projects — $21,300 was for the Lincoln Avenue tennis court resurfacing project and $125,000 was for the Police Cove Park seawall repairs. 

Barrington Town Manager Phil Hervey told Council members that about $9,000 was coming from the remaining unassigned ARPA fund balance. 

With Chianese and Kent Street off-line, people can use the tennis/pickle ball and basketball courts at the middle school and the tennis courts on Lincoln Avenue across from the high school.