Springfield has secured $46,000 in combined Union County grant funding to overhaul the tennis courts at Irwin Park and plant new trees across town, with officials saying the Irwin Park project will finally give local pickleball players dedicated courts of their own. The money breaks down as a $40,000 award from the Union County Kids Recreation Trust Fund and a $6,000 grant through Greening Union County, both aimed at distinct township priorities.
According to TAPinto Springfield, the Union County Board of County Commissioners awarded the township the two grants, and Mayor Harris Laufer thanked the county for its continued support of local improvement projects. Springfield plans to combine the $40,000 recreation grant with previously awarded New Jersey Department of Community Affairs funding to pay for the Irwin Park renovation, which will address age-related deterioration and water damage on the existing courts, per the Township of Springfield. The work includes crack repairs, resurfacing, painting, striping, and new tennis posts and nets, and is expected to be undertaken in late 2026 or early 2027.
One Court Becomes Two for Pickleball
The centerpiece of the renovation is the conversion of one existing tennis court into two dedicated pickleball courts, giving Springfield its first courts built specifically for the sport. Recreation Director Adam Lieb said the project is a major step in modernizing the township's recreational facilities, and that once it wraps up, every tennis court in Springfield will have been renovated within the last five years.
Lieb added that expanding pickleball opportunities and improving tennis facilities is a major priority for the township, and that residents will receive upgraded courts as a result. The project description also matches what the township's own announcement laid out: resurfacing combined with the one-for-two court conversion, funded in part by the newly announced county grant.
Public Works Turns Grant Into New Trees
Separately, Springfield's Department of Public Works will use the $6,000 Greening Union County grant to support tree plantings throughout the township. Township Forester Keith Decker said the grant will help preserve and expand Springfield's tree canopy, adding that tree coverage benefits residents and that the Greening Union County support is appreciated.
Greening Union County grants are designed to help municipalities offset tree planting and environmental enhancement costs as part of a broader effort to strengthen tree canopies and improve green spaces countywide. The county's own application guidance for the program specifies that grant-funded trees must be planted during the 2027 spring or fall planting cycle, and that municipalities are asked to submit reimbursement bills before the end of 2027, according to the County of Union, New Jersey.
Part of a Countywide Funding Push
The Kids Recreation Trust Fund, which launched in 2004, provides matching grants to Union County municipalities for new recreational facilities or improvements to existing amenities for children and families. Springfield's own announcement states the fund has distributed close to $30 million to local communities since its inception, though the township's prior Henshaw Park playground announcement had put the cumulative figure at more than $20 million — a discrepancy in reporting that has not been independently reconciled.
This year's awards were part of a larger county effort: Union County's 2026 Kids Recreation and Greening grant opportunities were open to all 21 municipalities, with applications due by August 3. The scale of that program showed up clearly in 2025, when the county announced more than $1.14 million in open-space, recreation, and historic-preservation awards, including $784,800 specifically for Kids Recreation Trust Fund projects and $100,000 for Greening Union County tree plantings, the county said in its own release.
A Pattern of Annual Awards
This isn't Springfield's first time drawing on these two programs together. A previous township announcement noted Springfield had received a $40,000 Kids Recreation Trust Fund grant and an $8,000 Greening Union County grant for the Henshaw Park playground project, with the township planning to match that $40,000 recreation grant with another $40,000 of its own to finance the new playground.
Mayor Laufer's comments on the newest round of funding echoed that recurring relationship with the county. The township very much appreciates these annual grants, he said, which go a long way toward enhancing Springfield's parks and beautifying the community — a sentiment that, judging by the Henshaw Park and Irwin Park announcements alike, has become something of a township refrain each grant cycle.
