ASHLAND — Ashland is set to get another pickleball court.
Ashland City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday that allowed city officials to enter into a contract with Vasco Group for an estimated cost of $300,000.
Work on the project began last month, when Vasco laid a layer of asphalt at the tennis courts in Brookside West Park.
The city’s finance director, Larry Paxton, said Vasco is a member of Sourcewell, a cooperative purchasing program that the city of Ashland also belongs to. He explained that’s why the city did not undergo a traditional bidding process for the project.
Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said the city received a $189,000 gift toward the project on Monday from Lloyd and Norma Wygant. The rest of the money — for fencing and lighting — will likely come from the city’s park budget, officials have said.
Miller and councilman Dennis Miller said they appreciate the Wygants’ philanthropy.
“It is tremendous when you consider the wide breadth … how many different aspects of the community the Wygants are impacting,” Miller said.
The Wygants have also donated to the Brookside Golf Course pavilion, downtown’s archway and to the high school’s Keith Wygant’s Memorial Field House, as well as other projects around the city.
The courts at Brookside West Park would be the third site in Ashland for pickleball.
Courts at Cahn Grove Park opened in May 2022 — also built by Vasco. The city’s YMCA also has courts.
Pickleball courts in Loudonville opened in 2023.