Bristol Borough and Bristol Township
A court set aside in a development’s open space shall be maintained so it creates no hazard or nuisance, Bristol Township’s zoning code says. If it isn’t, the township may do the upkeep and charge the owners, penalties included.
Local courts
The code also says such a recreation area shall perpetuate the proposed use, so a court drawn on a development’s plans is meant to stay a court. Unless the township or county agrees otherwise, the homeowners’ association, condominium association or property owner carries the cost of upkeep. Keeping that court up is our work: cracks filled and low spots leveled, acrylic resurfacer and textured color coats, and lines measured fresh, with pickleball lines where your players want them. If the pavement under your color is failing, rebuilding it comes first, and any new fence or lights belong on the calendar before fresh color goes down.
This page covers both Bristols. The borough, settled in 1681, sits on the Delaware across from Burlington, New Jersey, covers just under 2 square miles and keeps four historic districts. Bristol Township borders it, covers about 17 square miles and counted 54,291 residents in 2020, which made it Pennsylvania’s 13th-largest municipality. The township was largely farmland until the 1950s; its named places include Bath, Croydon, Edgely and Newportville, and parts of Levittown and Fairless Hills lie inside it. We take on courts in both, at homes, schools, clubs and associations. Calls from either Bristol go to Bill Ferguson, based here in Bucks County, at 215-251-2984.
Local conditions
The Delaware is tidal here: across the river, NOAA’s Burlington gauge measures a mean range of 7.3 feet. FEMA’s preliminary flood maps, posted on the borough’s stormwater page, replace maps up to 14 years old, so look up where your court falls. If water reaches it, wash off the silt and let it dry: one coating maker wants a court clean and dry before coating.
Bristol’s climate is classed humid subtropical; from 1981 on, its highest daily average dew point was 75.5°F, on August 13, 2016. The American Sports Builders Association (ASBA) lists humidity among the things that slow a water-based coating’s drying and wants each coat able to dry completely the day it goes on. One coating maker’s spec forbids coating when extremely high humidity prevents drying, so muggy stretches get waited out.
Start here
When a court sits in your community’s open space, the township expects it kept up and kept in use. Your board can talk the repairs through with Bill at 215-251-2984, and plan the color for warm, dry days.
Blended lines add up to two pickleball courts to a Bristol tennis court and leave tennis in play, the gentler change for a court on a development’s plans. Where tennis is finished, a full conversion turns the whole surface over to pickleball.
If the pavement under your court’s color is sound, the usual resurfacing order is wash, crack fill, low-spot patches, then acrylic resurfacer, sand-textured color coats per the coating maker’s spec, and fresh lines. In Bristol’s muggy summers, each coat waits for drying weather.
Ask Bristol Township first. Its zoning code says a recreation area shown on a development’s plans shall perpetuate the proposed use, and the plans note the facilities to be provided. Blended lines are the smaller step: USTA guidance fits up to two pickleball courts on one tennis court, one on each side of the net, painted a shade lighter than the court, and tennis stays playable. On a court behind your own house, the decision is yours. Talk both through with Bill at 215-251-2984.
Ask the borough before work starts. Owners in its historic districts need a Certificate of Appropriateness before starting a project, and the Historical Architectural Review Board weighs exterior alterations and new construction. Its design guidelines don’t recommend chain-link fences there except on rear areas of lots, and they call for yard lighting on posts 12 feet high at most. Take any fence or lighting plans to the board early, so its answer is in before the court’s repairs, color and lines are scheduled.
Ask the township before anyone paves. Its stormwater ordinance counts new tennis courts, like driveways and patios, as regulated activities where it applies. Fences matter too: residential fences top out at six feet in side and rear yards, and fences for tennis courts escape that limit only when they stand at least 50 feet from any abutting residential property. Settle the pickleball layout before the pad goes in, so paving and fencing fit it; color and lines follow once the pad is ready. Call Bill at 215-251-2984.