Pickleball court repairs slated to start soon…

Oct 20, 2022 T-R PHOTO BY SUSANNA MEYER A portion of the north wall in the Marshalltown Tennis Complex’s Pickleball Court area collapsed early this year, and Garling Construction is preparing to repair/replace the damaged wall, as well as inspect the remaining walls to ensure the quality of the construction.

One of the stone retaining walls at the Marshalltown Tennis Complex pickleball court area collapsed in April, but repair plans for the northern wall are coming together at no cost to the Marshalltown Community School District.

The tennis complex was completed in the fall of 2020, and early this spring, Superintendent Theron Schutte noticed the pickleball court wall was bowing slightly.

Fast forward to April of this year after some unusually high winds, and the wall collapsed.

During the regular board of education meeting on Monday night, Garling Construction Owner Doug DeMeulenaere called in to share an update with the board and the community about the repair plans.

DeMeulenaere said there was an obvious problem with the wall, and through some investigation they found that their subcontractor, Dirt to Turf, did not have it engineered, which is commonly done for walls over four feet tall.

He said this is most likely why the wall failed.

After several months of working with insurance companies on the wall, DeMeaulenaere said they are able to get started on a plan to fix the problem at no cost to the MCSD because of the improper installation. “There’s a lot of phasing to this.

You guys can probably imagine, this is not an inexpensive fix, and there’s multiple phases in how this needs to be done,” DeMeulenaere said.

Tearing out the rest of the damaged wall and removing the necessary court fencing is the first step in the repairs.

Some of the asphalt in the court may have to come out as well to ensure that the court has the correct base, though DeMeulenaere said he wasn’t sure how much asphalt would have to be removed.

After the demolition, the wall will be reinstalled, per an engineer’s recommendations, and then a new foundation will be poured, as well as new concrete piers to hold the fence.

New fences and asphalt will also be installed.

The last steps include recoating and striping the court and completing any repairs to the landscaping that was damaged throughout the repair process.

DeMeulenaere is hoping that the wall portion of the project will be complete by the end of this year, but the rest will carry into 2023.

He said he is hopeful that the north court will be the only one disturbed, leaving the two south pickleball courts open for the spring, but portions of the south courts may have to be removed too.

Whether or not the two south courts will be a part of the remodel will most likely be determined by the end of next week. “We may be back Monday with a small excavator to dig it up and determine where we’re going to go, and I understand you guys will need to have notice on that.

We’re not just going to show up and all of the sudden the whole thing’s torn up.

I won’t do that,” DeMeulenaere said. “I know there’s a lot of important people and patrons that appreciate the facility, and if I could go over there tonight and wave a magic wand and fix it, I’d be there.” During the meeting, board member Zach Wahl said a Marshalltown resident had told him that the south courts, as well as the southern wall, are tilting slightly, and Wahl asked if DeMeulenaere could verify that.

DeMeulenaere said that the slight slope on the southern courts is most likely to prevent water accumulation, but he did add that he was planning to check the original specifications to make sure nothing was amiss.

Wahl also asked if the new coating on the north court would match the south courts, and DeMeulenaere assured him that if there was any fading, they would recoat the entire court to make it look new.

Work is slated to start soon, and DeMeulenaere plans to update the MCSD as new information on the depth of the repairs becomes available. , , Contact Susanna Meyer at 641-753-6611 or smeyer@timesrepublican.com.

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