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PARKS , from Page 1 announced that the town of Hammonton received a $ 62,000 Local Recreation Improvement Grant from the New Jersey Division of Community Affairs for improvements of public recreation facilities at Hammonton Lake Park
“ These specific funds will go toward the rehabilitation of the bandstand pavilion — that is the one , as soon as you drive in , that
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you look right at — and the area right around it , to bring it up to 2023 . We ’ re very excited about that ,” Mazzeo said .
Mazzeo said that the town ’ s landscape architect , Scott Taylor of Taylor Design Group LLC , worked in conjunction with Adams , Rehmann and Heggan Associates ( ARH ) to create a scope of work to apply for the grant .
In other business , Mazzeo said
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that construction on the refurbished tennis / pickleball courts at Hammonton Middle School is underway .
“ The milling is being done this week . They have been out there all week , and they ’ re on the ball . We ’ re getting this moving , so we ’ re all very happy about that ,” Mazzeo said .
Mazzeo also said that the town recently invested in recreation scheduling software . The goal of the software , Mazzeo said , is to make submitting use requests easier on the public .
“ Instead of having to go through the paper process , they would be able to go online , log in as a user and say , ‘ I would like to use this pavilion on this date ’ and have the ability to reserve it . That would generate an email to me , which I will make my report with and report it all to you ,” Mazzeo said .
Mazzeo said that such software would also prevent overbooking of facilities .
Mazzeo said that , once they are completed , the tennis / pickleball courts will also be on the recreation app .
“ I think we have to figure out a way to have people reserve dates and times on a daily basis without it being a use-of-facility 21 days in advance , because that ’ s going to become an issue in the future . If people go to the courts and just
Wednesday , May 3 , 2023 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3
Parks & Rec discusses recreation scheduling software
show up on a daily basis and not have any reservations , they could play all day with no recourse ,” Mazzeo said .
Councilman Steven Furgione inquired further .
“ Are we going to try to not allow people to just go show up ? Is the goal to be where you ’ re going to need to book some time to play ?” Furgione said .
Mazzeo replied that residents who appeared before the commission in August of 2022 explained the procedure used at pickleball courts in other municipalities .
“ There ’ s this app , Meetup , that they go on . This would be a similar process , where they know , if they go on , there ’ s games being played , and they can just jump in and put in a time . They would know if it ’ s available or not ,” Mazzeo said .
Commissioner James Borda commented further .
“ Once word gets out , out-oftown people are going to come . Just like Hammonton people gravitate to Shamong or to Williamstown or wherever there ’ s a court ; people will find it . I think we do need to put something in place ,” Borda said .
Mazzeo said that the plans involve signs with QR codes leading players to the virtual signup sheet .
During discussion , Commissioner Mica McCullough noted that , for non-residents of Hammonton , visits to the pickleball courts might be their first experience in town .
“ We don ’ t want it to be ‘ I had to wait two hours for a pickleball court and then someone cut in front of me .’ ... There should be a system , to make sure it ’ s not just lawlessness ,” McCullough said .
Commissioner John Iacovelli commented .
“ Out-of-towners are the least of our worries , because if you ’ re an out-of-towner coming here , that means you ’ re an accomplished pickleball player ,” Iacovelli said . McCullough responded . “ I ’ m not worried about them causing an issue . I ’ m worried about them not having a nice time in Hammonton because of issues ,” McCullough said .
McCullough asked Mazzeo if it was possible to coordinate the recreation software with Meetup , particularly for the benefit of non-residents visiting the courts for the first time .
“ If they don ’ t know they need to book it in advance , and then they get there and all 12 courts are booked up for three days solid ... If Meetup is how the pickleball players are figuring out where to play , then there needs to be some type of communication between the software that you are now
See REC , Page 4
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