Allentown, a community more closely associated with cotton and peanut farming than pickleball, could soon be home to a sports center where an activity that has taken the world by storm will number among the offered amenities.
Plans for the Allentown Recreation Center were submitted by county officials in late August to the Santa Rosa County Planning and Zoning Department for consideration. County Finance Director Sabrina White said the staff could sign off on the project by as soon as next week.
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Under the proposal, an outdoor facility featuring pickleball, two full-length basketball courts and an exercise/fitness area will be constructed on 2.3 acres of land on State Road 89 just south of the Calvary Baptist Church.
Pickleball took off as a pastime during the pandemic and has become increasingly popular across Santa Rosa County.
It is a sport that combines elements of several other activities and is played over a net on a court roughly the size of a badminton pitch. Players volley using a perforated plastic ball they strike with paddles roughly twice the size of those used in table tennis.
The Allentown park will be built on land donated by the Allentown Fire Department, according to Rhett Rowell, the county commissioner whose District 3 encompasses the parcel to be developed.
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The Recreation Center will be the first of its kind for this North Santa Rosa community whose population was estimated at just 1,023 in the 2020 census, Rowell said.
White said the recreation center project has been in the works for a couple of years and the county received a $30,000 grant for the purchase of equipment to equip the fitness court. The fitness court will be the first amenity available for use by the public, she said.
The basketball courts are expected to be ready for use by November, White said.
Rowell said the bulk of the cost of construction will be allocated from proceeds derived through the county’s half-cent sales tax used to fund law enforcement, infrastructure improvements, parks and other county amenities.
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By utilizing in-house labor, the county stands to realize a substantial savings, White said. The planned pickleball courts can be installed by county employees for $50,000 whereas contractors would charge well over $200,000 for the same project.
A little over a year ago Allentown resident Jana Williamson was shot down in her effort to have the Santa Rosa County Zoning Board allow her to use 24 acres of land about a half-mile north of the planned county park on which to build a sports complex of her own.
Williamson’s plans called for a much grander use of the significantly larger property, to include a football field and eventually lighted baseball and softball fields.
Area residents showed up in force to protest the Williamson plan, claiming the sports center she envisioned would cause traffic congestion along rural SR 89 and disrupt their lifestyle. Residents who would have been living close to the proposed park expressed worries about noise and lighting.
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“People move out to this area for the country life,” said Rene Harrison, whose property is adjacent to the 24 acres Williamson wanted to develop. “We didn’t buy our property thinking something like this would be allowed.”
White said that while the amenities to be offered at the Allentown Recreation Center will be limited to space available, the county has been in discussion with landowners in the area about purchasing properties for possible expansion of the park concept. Those conversations have slowed as efforts by the county to find new funding sources for roads and park expansion have fallen through.
Williamson, who appeared before the Zoning Board in April of 2024, based much of her case for the sports complex on local youngsters not having a location in Allentown to participate in football or cheer.
“This community does not have a park. There is no park within a 10- to 15-mile radius our kids could go to to do recreational sports,” she said. “I decided I would build a park.”
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But two months after the Zoning Board rejected her proposal, Central School in the Allentown community played its first varsity football game on a field widely supported and partially funded by people in the community. White said it appeared that the new field has provided opportunities for recreation not previously available.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pickleball coming to Santa Rosa farm country with Allentown rec center
