Needham’s first action sports park and dedicated pickleball courts are entering the final stages of design.
The Park and Recreation Department prioritized plans for these new recreational facilities after years of requests from residents. A feasibility study was conducted in 2023, and in 2024 Claxton Field was chosen as the site location for both projects. $300,000 from Community Preservation funds was approved by Town Meeting in May 2025 for the project’s design.
Together with Weston & Sampson and Pillar Design Studios, the firms hired to design the courts and skate park, Park and Rec hosted three community meetings in 2026.
The most recent meeting on Sept. 24 gave the 25 community members attending online and in person another opportunity to offer feedback on design plans.
“We’re excited about where we’re landing,” said Cassie Bethoney, a practice leader and landscape architect with Weston & Sampson. “And we hope to come out of this meeting with an endorsed plan that we can then move into construction documents, and actually get this thing built once construction funds are approved. So, it’s an exciting moment.”
“And this is not the last time you can have a say,” she added. “But we hope that everyone is really happy with where we’re landing after all the feedback we’ve heard through several conversations.”
Current designs feature five post-tension concrete pickleball courts, an expanded parking lot along Central Avenue, and an accessible action sports park located in the old quarry near Claxton Field.
Designs have been shaped by site constraints. The number of pickleball courts that can be built is limited by a wetland buffer, contaminated soil and geotextile barrier (a synthetic layer that acts as an environmental cap for the old burn-dump), solid waste under the existing parking lot and tree plantings. The skate park, set on top of the old quarry, had to be designed with shallow bedrock and the quarry wall in mind. Both sites had to consider stormwater management guidelines.
Accessibility concerns and the unique interests of both skaters and bikers also shaped the skate park’s design. The existing schematics feature a back-and-forth flow with wide transition areas and technical features that can be used by skaters or bikers. The park will have accessible parking and ramps.
“We want to do something different than what you guys have in the surrounding areas, so we’re not trying to cram too much stuff into one space,” said principal skate park designer Brad Siedlecki.
Siedlecki’s fly-through of design schematics was coded for action sports enthusiasts — listing capped granite ledges and steel ledges, banking curves, manual pads, a fun box, flat bars, flat banks, quarter pipes and brick texture as potential features of the new park.
“It will be a great complement to the skate park system you guys already have in the greater Boston area,” he said, adding, “In my 25 years and 500-plus parks, I’ve never built on a rock quarry. So this is going to be a really cool setting for a skate park.”
Although drop-off features were added based on residents’ interest in a more bike-friendly park, Siedlecki noted the design had to remain usable for skaters as well, limiting the elements that could be added. Original designs also included plans for a pump track, which has since been set aside for future consideration.
Feedback from residents informed design development for both recreational facilities. A desire for quality amenities led to the inclusion of several shade structures near the skate park, accessible seating and trash receptacles, and water-filling stations near both sites. Concerns about noise, lighting and maintenance prompted a sound study, and plans to wire for lighting that can be funded and installed in a future phase. Requests for higher fencing between the pickleball courts and softball field led designers to add plans for a 12- to 14-foot fence along the courts’ field side, with a 10-foot fence closing off the other sides.
During the most recent session, residents asked designers to include shade structures near the pickleball courts, to consider the site’s wind effect on pickleball games, and, when the time comes, to carefully select contractors qualified to build these particular projects.
The project team hopes to wrap up final designs for the new facilities by January or February 2027 and pursue Town Meeting approval for funding in May 2027. Best-case scenario, construction on both sites would be completed in the fall of 2027, though construction company timelines could push completion dates to spring or summer of 2028.
“I think it’s a possibility that it could be done in the fall, but I wouldn’t want to give a promise,” said deputy town manager Liz LaRosee.
Both plans have received strong support from Needham residents, said Bethoney.
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