by Chris Jones ·
Friday, April 10, 2026
Park and Recreation Director Anne McWaters has vetted and chosen Westboro Tennis Surfaces to reconstruct the Bromfield tennis courts for $228,000 this July. In February, the Community Preservation Committee committed $158,000 to the project while the Capital Planning and Investment Committee added another $70,000. But there is one wrinkle: Town Meeting must approve the money.
Though the tennis courts are on the Bromfield campus, they are not used exclusively by students. “They are a resource that the entire town uses, and they need to be redone,” McWaters said. Scott Hoffman, the Bromfield boys varsity tennis coach, agreed, “From one to 10, I’d rate them a five in terms of condition. [In the past], I’ve seen them when the cracks looked like rivers, so they’re not that bad yet, but the cracks are only going to get worse.”
Andy Hebb, a pickleball enthusiast and Harvard resident, shares Hoffman’s thinking. “The courts are noticeably deteriorating, and court three is among the worst. It’s uneven and has cracks; it requires caution to play on it,” Hebb said.
As it turns out, Westboro Tennis Surfaces reconstructed the Bromfield courts in 2006, so they’ve held up for 20 years. McWaters could have opted for resurfacing the courts, but to her, this would have been wasteful: “Just putting an armor membrane on asphalt that is already cracked is like applying a bandaid. Those cracks are just going to come back through.”
She stands by the decision to reconstruct the courts and remains optimistic that Town Meeting will approve the $228,000 expenditure. “The money has already been raised through taxes; it’s a pot of money that already exists,” McWaters said. CPC money comes from the Community Preservation Fund and is replenished each year with a 3% surcharge on property taxes. CPIC money comes from the Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund, which is refilled annually with unspent cash (free cash) from the previous fiscal year. As a result, voting for new tennis courts will not affect anyone’s property tax, and McWaters said she hopes the public understands this.
Should Town Meeting approve the money, construction would, in all likelihood, begin in early July. McWaters didn’t know the end date. All the existing outdoor lights will remain, and all the lightbulbs have been recently replaced. In addition, trees around the periphery of the courts that often affected the lighting have been removed, so at project completion, the conditions for play may be optimal.
Hebb, the pickleball enthusiast, has spoken with McWaters and hopes the pickleball courts will be expanded from four to eight, one on either side of each tennis net. Park and Rec would need to purchase rollaway pickleball nets to make this a reality, but Hebb maintains that surrounding communities have made that commitment. The TeamReach app, a community sports scheduling app, identifies 542 pickleball members in Harvard alone. Acton has 1,200 members.
The CPC has recommended eight different projects for fiscal year 2027 that fall into one of four categories: recreation, open space, affordable housing, and historic preservation. Each separate project must be approved by Harvard residents at the May 2 Town Meeting as does the CPIC’s $70,000 contribution. Approved funds become available July 1.