At Hingham’s recent April 2025 Town Meeting, Article 20 passed, funding the construction of new pickleball courts in Hingham. The full project is estimated to cost around two million dollars, which will build 12 post-tension concrete pickleball courts across from Carlson Field on Bare Cove Park Drive where an abandoned building currently stands. The cost will cover both the construction and demolition of the building formerly used by the HHS TRACES program. The project is estimated to be completed by the fall of 2026.
Many people in Hingham, including students at HHS, do not support this project and it has received lots of negative feedback. Many HHS students share a similar opinion in which they think this project is a waste of money and that there are more important amenities to spend this money on as pickleball courts should not be the town’s number one concern. Freshman Kali Benham shares, “I think spending all this money on new pickleball courts is very unnecessary because we have a lot of other things that we could use the money on such as the new senior center, which I think is a better use of our town’s money.” Lots of students feel strongly about this and that the money could be put towards something like the senior center or even Hingham High School which would directly benefit the standard of living for residents. HHS is in need of some major renovations such as putting in new air conditioning which to students is much more important.
Additionally, students are confused about the decision on this project because of the town’s budget issues. Freshman Martin Seggev says, “I think that it is a waste of money spending two million dollars on this project when in the past the school has had budget struggles and now students are being charged for parking and next year will be charged for taking the bus. The money could be allocated better somewhere else.” Recently the Hingham School Committee voted on creating a transportation fee for students in grades 7-12 who take the bus to get to and from school. This will be put in place for the 2025-2026 school year and they will be charging $250 per individual student and up to $500 per family to use the buses. The vote to fund the pickle ball courts raises the question of how taxpayers can feel comfortable spending money on something such as the new courts when students in grades 7-12 will no longer be able to take the bus for free.
Many students feel that, instead of building brand new pickleball courts, the solution would be to just play on already existing pickleball lines on tennis courts around town. However, according to the 2025 Town Meeting Warrant, in 2023 a grant for a feasibility study was approved and displayed that although pickleball could be played on a tennis court with pickleball lines, it isn’t convenient for either sport.
Overall, students at HHS are not very happy with the two million dollars spent on pickleball courts and believe that the money could have been saved for a more worthwhile project.
For more information, please visit the 2025 Meeting Town Warrant.
