Eight new pickleball courts are close to completion at Pine Nursery Park in northeast Bend, one of a series of projects to add a new playground, athletic courts and eventually new soccer fields, lighting and possibly tennis courts.

Bend Park & Recreation District crews have spent more than a month installing the pickleball courts, a racket sport combining tennis and ping pong, played with a whiffle ball.

The courts should be ready this spring near the northern edge of the park, said Michelle Healy, the park district’s director of strategic planning and design. New parking spaces and landscaping work are also nearly complete.

Park district board members last week discussed longer-term improvement plans at Pine Nursery. The district is working on preliminary design plans for a playground in the center of the park.

Healy said they hope to wrap up design work and start construction on the playground next year.

The park district is dipping into system development charges — fees collected by the city of Bend on new construction projects, which fund street, sewer and park upgrades — to pay for the Pine Nursery work. Half the money for the pickleball courts comes from the Bend Pickleball Club, a group pushing for more opportunities to play the sport across the city.

The parking lot work is funded by the 2012 park bond measure passed by city of Bend voters.

For a few years, park officials have eyed Pine Nursery for some major improvement projects, like adding new tennis courts, soccer fields and lighting, so sporting events can go on at night.

Those projects could come over the next four or five years, as additional development fees become available, Healy said.

The city purchased the Pine Nursery property in 2004 and started developing 159 acres of the parkland off Purcell Boulevard and Yeoman Road for recreation in 2006.

Recent projects have added park trails, a paved bike path, four soccer fields, an irrigation pond and picnic benches.

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, eglucklich@bendbulletin.com