There used to be a stand of 22 pine trees at the back of Roy Park, off Rosemont Avenue in Pinardville. Those pines are gone. Goffstown Parks & Recreation has spent the late summer and fall building five pickleball courts there to USA Pickleball standards. The project includes fencing, nets, player seating and ADA-compliant paths. Removing the pines and their stumps cost $12,700 by itself.
No general tax money went into them. The Select Board released the project for bids in May 2026, funded entirely from recreation revolving funds and impact-fee accounts. The reason that money was sitting there goes back to two Town Meeting votes.
The money the town had to use
Impact fees are one-time charges on new development, and towns collect them to pay for public facilities that growth puts demand on. In June 2026, Goffstown Parks & Recreation held $203,861.53 in recreation impact fees. That figure comes from the Parks and Recreation Commission's June 17, 2026 minutes. Of that, $20,000 was still set aside for the Sports Complex parking lot, which left $183,861.53 available.
The same minutes explain why there was a deadline. A large share of the money was "going to expire," because two large projects in 2024 and 2025 "had town taxation dollars rejected at Town Meeting." New Hampshire's impact-fee statute, RSA 674:21, requires towns to refund unspent impact fees, with interest, after a deadline set by local ordinance. When a town fails to appropriate its own share of a project's cost, the statute caps that deadline at six years.
The commission chose a project that impact fees and the Parks and Recreation revolving fund could cover without going back to voters. Commissioners voted 5–0 to put $130,000 of impact fees toward the Roy Park courts, with any change orders paid from the Parks and Recreation revolving fund.
The 2024 pool vote
One recreation request on the 2024 ballot fits the minutes' description of a rejected large project. Article 19 in March 2024 asked voters for $340,000 to fund engineering design for a replacement pool and bathhouse at Barnard Park. The 2024 voters' guide said the town expected to seek a construction bond of about $4 million in 2025 once the design was done.
The Select Board recommended the article 5–0. The Budget Committee voted 10–2–1 not to recommend it. Voters turned it down 2,127 to 1,077, according to the official 2024 election results.
Barnard Pool stayed open anyway. This June, crews took the cover off on June 3, spent five days cleaning, and had the water balanced by June 10. A faulty chemical-control panel was swapped out for the old panel from the Roy pool. That old Roy pool connects the two parks. Roy Park's own pool has been removed. In 2025 the department reported a high water table on its former footprint and expected that any new use there would need an underdrain system.
How a $177,200 bid became about $195,000
The commission received six bids by the June 15, 2026 deadline. They varied more than you might expect for the same five courts.
| Bidder | Bid |
|---|---|
| Vermont Recreational Surfacing & Fencing | $177,200 |
| Danabry Construction | $232,750 |
| Peckham Road Corp | $247,570 |
| Quirk Construction | $248,500 |
| Blue Ribbon Property | $298,880 |
| Belko Landscaping | $307,000 |
The director called five of the six bidders and found a pattern. Four were site-work or construction firms that planned to hire subcontractors for the paving, the court coating and the fencing. The low bidder planned to subcontract only the paving. For a reference, the director called the recreation director and facility manager in Concord. The Vermont company has built and coated basketball, tennis and pickleball courts for Concord for more than twenty years.
The project cost more than the bid once work started. The September minutes show three additions:
- The trees. Removing and disposing of the 22 pines and their stumps cost $12,700. That work was never in the $177,200 bid.
- A deeper base. The crew used 15.5 inches of crushed stone, 3.5 inches more than the specification called for, to support the courts for longer. In exchange, the asphalt went down at 3 inches instead of 4.
- An extra paint coat. A first layer of black acrylic paint was added for a longer-lasting surface. The base and paint changes together cost $4,658.
Altogether that comes to $194,558. The commission raised the revolving-fund share to $65,000 to cover it. With the $130,000 in impact fees, the total funding is $195,000.
An earlier choice kept the price down. When the project went into the department's capital plan in May 2025, the asphalt courts were estimated at $190,000. Post-tensioned concrete, a common premium court surface, was estimated at $292,500. The asphalt option is what got built.
Where construction stands
At the commission's September 16 meeting, the director reported the base and underdrain finished, the first asphalt layers down, and outer drainage and fence posts going in. The final asphalt layer was scheduled for September 18. The town's bid documents asked for the work to be finished, preferably, by October 31, 2026.
Hours, rules and the opening date will come from Goffstown Parks & Recreation. The commission posts its agendas and minutes on the town's site, and that's the best place to watch for updates. The courts are at 31 Rosemont Ave. Roy Park uses a Manchester 03102 mailing address, the same one much of Pinardville uses, so a map app may list it under Manchester.
Who will use the courts
Goffstown already had pickleball players before the courts were planned. When Parks & Recreation started an adult pickleball league on July 14, 2025, it had 64 players registered: 16 a night, Monday through Thursday. That same month, the commission described pickleball courts and a dog park as new facilities responding to community needs.
Winter play is smaller and indoors. Parks & Recreation's indoor Thursday pickleball was averaging eight players in February 2026. If you want more court time in the cold months, Pickleball 603 at 45 Danville Road in East Hampstead advertises six indoor courts and climate-controlled play all year. It lists hours of 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends, subject to change. It's a real drive from Goffstown. Last winter, Goffstown's own Recreation Building ice rink opened the weekend of December 13, 2025, and the department called its season very successful.
What's next at Roy Park
In the May 2025 capital plan, the courts were one of the department's two top priorities. The other was a dog park at Roy Park, estimated at $68,000 and also planned around revolving funds and impact fees. The department said the two could go in different spots in the park.
Here's how the impact-fee numbers work out. The June 2026 minutes showed $183,861.53 available after the parking lot set-aside. Taking out the $130,000 for the courts leaves about $53,860, which is less than the dog park estimate. The revolving fund has already put $65,000 toward the courts.
Smaller fall projects are underway elsewhere in town. As of September, 8 of the rail trail's 60 bollards had been sanded, primed and painted at the Shirley Park and Morgan Circle crossings, and volunteers had cut back low-hanging branches along the trail's 5.5 miles. An Eagle Scout plans to install a new kiosk at the Factory Street trailhead, near the Residences at Hadley Falls, if the work gets done before the ground freezes. Downtown, the Goffstown Main Street Program has Friday Night Under the Lights and the village tree lighting set for December 4, 2026, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Main Street.
At Granite State Realty Group, we keep up with what's being built around town because it shapes daily life in each part of Goffstown. That includes which parks are getting upgrades, how projects get paid for and which ones are still waiting on funding. If you'd like to know how projects like Roy Park might affect a specific street or home, request a free local market consultation and we'll go through it with you.
