Pickleball And The Have-Not Township

Jeff Green | Sep 04, 2024

The Frontenac News office is located next to the Sharbot Lake Pickleball court. This means that throughout the summer at least, whether it is a sunny day or a cloudy, whether it is a little cool or a lot hot out, there is relentless noise emanating from the next property over.

In addition to the hypnotic tink, tink as rackets hit balls, there are more random set of sounds. There are groans when balls miss their mark long or into the net, and even the odd curse. But the most dominant sound is spontaneous praise for good shots, some pretty loud laughter, and conversations between players.

Every Pickleballer I have talked to about the sport says the same thing about it. The sport is a lot of fun, for the novice players as well as those who have taken it up on in a more serious way.

And, judging from this court at least, in the summer time it attracts young and old, year-round residents and cottagers, all sharing the court in what appears to be a pretty easygoing and equitable manner, with little or no need for overbearing rules or regulations.

It is a far cry from what was going on in that space 4 short years ago. The asphalt was grey and cracked. Manitoba Maple had infiltrated and weaved its way into the fences around the court. It was so thick that a tennis ball that went into the fence was difficult or impossible to find.

It was a wasteland, as was the entire abandoned site, six years after the public school that had graced the site for 70 years closed in 2014, and the joyous sounds of children playing in the yard gave way to silence.

The transformation of the court, which started as an idea during the COVID lock down days of 2020, progressed quickly, inspired by people like Sandy Robertson and a former Principal from the school, Frank Girard, and a few other community members who were keen to bring any life to the local community during the boring days and weeks of COVID distancing and fear.

By the spring of 2021, the court was being cleaned up and ever since May of 2021 it has been a lively spot. Each summer has been busier than the last, and the group that formed to oversee the court, the Sharbot Lake Pickleball Association, has continued to improve the court, and the surrounding area, even as the rest of former school site remains a pile of rubble after the building was torn down in 2020.

The Pickleball Association has been advocating for the site to be designated as the permanent home of Pickleball in Sharbot Lake, but the township hopes to turn the site into a housing development.

The latest plan by the association is for a major upgrade to the surface, a project that will cost between $25,000 and $30,000. They have raised $12,000 through fundraising and are looking to raise the rest. According to a fundraising letter from Sandy Robertson, the township has given the go ahead to the membership to resurface the site, but they will not contribute any money towards it.

Partly this is because they are hoping to develop the site within 10 years, but it is also because Central Frontenac has very little money available for recreational infrastructure. It is very common for local groups to raise money, and even arrange and carry out recreational construction projects in Central Frontenac. This has happened in both Sharbot Lake and Arden within the past year.

South Frontenac operates in a different way, The township developed a recreational master plan a few years ago and has been investing tax dollars into pickleball and tennis courts, ball fields and beach facilities alike. This has happened throughout the township to ensure equal access to outdoor recreation in all of its communities, even in sparsely populated areas.

The result is a have and have-not situation in Frontenac County. Service levels vary based on arbitrary boundaries and extends to all aspects of municipal infrastructure, especially road surfacing and maintenance.

The reason for this difference is two-fold. It is primarily financial, to be sure, but there is also a culture of isolationism among Frontenac County politicians. There are 8 council members at the Frontenac County table, but it is the four Mayors who dominate the conversation. Particularly since the most recent municipal election in 2022, the Mayors around the table have made it clear that their primary goal, apart from ensuring that the County lives up to is provincial obligations, is to promote and protect the jurisdictional and financial interests of their own township.

Most recently, Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith asked for $100,000 in county funds to be allocated to help put in a new washroom at Sharbot Lake Beach. In 2016, the council of the day committed to spending that amount in each township for trailheads as part of the K&P trail roll out.

This commitment has never been funded, which is certainly a complication. But the conversation t the table was not about how to find the money to help Central Frontenac put in infrastructure to support the trail, local beachgoers and tourists.

The mayors mumbled about the cost, speculated if the washrooms were really for the trail or for beach goers, and deferred the matter.

The request was only a heads up that Central Frontenac wants the money to be in place when needed, and not a formal ask, but the the response demonstrated what this council is all about

No one said, “hey we should find the money for Central Frontenac for this. We all live in the same county after all? What's $100,000. We run a $40 million operation here. Let’s make this happen”

At the core of all of this, as we have said before in this newspaper, are vastly different financial realities that distinguish all the Frontenac Townships. There is a simple way to calculate it, all you need to do is take the total property assessment of each township, and divide the number by the number of kilometres of public roads in the township. The higher that number is, the richer the township is.

What the numbers show is that South Frontenac has money, North Frontenac gets by, and Central Frontenac is the poor cousin. There is no political will to change the way Frontenac County is funded to address this reality. What has developed as the result of this financial reality that has been in place since the townships were set up in 1998 and has only become more a more entrenched for 27 years, is a political culture of haves and have nots.

Pickleball courts are nice to have, and South Frontenac puts them in while pickleballers in places like Sharbot Lake have to raise money and oversee the project themselves, while paying higher taxes than South Frontenac residents.

Frontenac County Council should take a field trip to the Westport Road. It only takes a few minutes. When you head towards Westport from the junction with Road 38, you find yourself on a failed road. Even though it is an arterial road, the speed limit is 60km an hour, and it is easy to see why. And when the Glendower Hall and the brand new, shiny Pickleball courts come into view, the road smooths out and the speed limit returns to 80km/hour.

This is what Frontenac County is all about.

There is no appetite for amalgamation among politicians in Frontenac County, but at the very least this discrepancy in finances should be recognised as a problem. It should not cost more for less service in different parts of the same county. Finding some mechanism to address this discrepancy would be a priority for Frontenac County politicians if they are committed to promoting a shared future.