Upper Southampton Township and part of Northampton Township
Pickleball in Upper Southampton’s Community Center is played on a gym floor. Move the game outdoors and the court has to handle sun, frost, falling leaves and, near the township’s creeks, wet ground.
Local courts
Upper and Lower Southampton were one township until 1929, and the community of Southampton lies in the upper one, reaching into Northampton Township as well. Upper Southampton covers about 6.6 square miles along the Montgomery County line, and parts of Southampton’s 18966 ZIP code can be addressed as Churchville or Holland. Ace Court Surfacing serves both townships, from backyard courts to the courts of community associations, clubs and schools. Calls from either township go to Bill Ferguson, who is based here in Bucks County.
The gym’s pickleball runs weekdays until 3:30 p.m., September through May, so evenings, weekends and summers are outdoor time. Water matters here too: the township names Mill Creek, Little Mill Creek and Southampton Creek among its waterways and says they overflow their banks on occasion. So map a Southampton court before planning its color: cracks, low spots, and where drains and swales send its water. Resurfacing stays on the pavement you have: cracks filled and leveled, acrylic color rebuilt, lines striped, pickleball added or laid out. Any drainage, paving or fence work comes first, so nobody digs beside fresh color.
Local conditions
Southampton Creek and Mill Creek drain the whole township, and its Environmental Advisory Council notes wetlands larger than two acres throughout it, except in the northwest quadrant. The American Sports Builders Association (ASBA) names poor drainage around a court as one cause of birdbaths, low spots that hold water. One coating maker adds that moisture beneath the base can blister the acrylic as the sun heats it.
Upper Southampton reminds residents that storm drains flow straight to nearby streams, not to a treatment plant, and asks that nothing go down one you wouldn’t swim in or drink. Plan the court wash with that in mind. The same coating maker’s manual says a water rinse is usually enough for general cleaning, with a bleach solution saved for spots of mold or mildew, scrubbed gently and rinsed.
Start here
The township’s indoor pickleball keeps weekday daytime hours, September through May. Your tennis court can cover the rest: blended lines for two pickleball courts with tennis kept, or a full conversion fitting up to four on a square-cornered 60-by-120-foot court.
On wet ground near the township’s creeks, watch for settlement cracks, which the ASBA traces to a poorly compacted or poorly drained subbase. Crack repair means acrylic filler and patch mix for low spots, though a crack that keeps widening points below the surface.
Resurfacing renews a sound court on the pavement it already has, so your lot gains no new impervious surface, the kind the township’s stormwater advice asks residents to minimize. Cracks are filled and low spots patched before new acrylic color and lines.
Yes, and tennis stays. USTA guidance allows up to two blended pickleball courts on a 78-foot tennis court, one each side of the net, sharing a tennis service line or baseline where possible. The pickleball lines go down in textured paint a shade lighter than the court, stopping 3 inches short of the tennis lines, and each court’s kitchen (non-volley zone) reaches 7 feet from its net. Generally the tennis net stays, and pickleball is played on portable nets.
The court itself shouldn’t. USA Pickleball’s rulebook sets one size for singles and doubles, 20 by 44 feet, with the net 36 inches high at the sidelines and 34 at the center. The ball often does: the rulebook says the one with larger holes is customarily used indoors, smaller holes outdoors. Then there’s the sun. USA Pickleball says outdoor courts should run north to south, so players aren’t looking into the sun during morning or late-afternoon play.
Look up the flood map before anyone digs. Upper Southampton says that in a Flood Hazard Area, improvements such as sheds and fences may be prohibited, or allowed only in strict accordance with FEMA rules, and it reviews them when you file for a zoning and building permit. FEMA’s map service at msc.fema.gov shows whether your lot is in one. Settle any fence or pad by the creek first; court color and lines come last. Call Bill at 215-251-2984.