Chesterfield is putting $2.3 million into its busiest sports facility this year: new parking lots, new bullpens, resurfaced pickleball courts, and replacement dugouts at the complex where your kid probably played last weekend.

The city's 2026 budget allocates $2.265 million in improvements to the Chesterfield First Community Athletic Complex, which hosts roughly 40 baseball and softball tournaments a year and generates about $25 million annually for the local economy, according to Parks, Recreation and Arts Director Wayne Dunker.

Here's where the money goes: $1.5 million for two new parking lots adding approximately 300 spaces, $600,000 for 16 new bullpens in the D and E Quad, $90,000 to replace two dugouts in C Quad, and $75,000 to resurface the pickleball courts.

Anyone who's circled those lots on a tournament Saturday knows the parking alone is overdue.

Tournament Town

The spending reflects how central youth sports have become to Chesterfield. Visiting families fill hotel rooms, pack restaurants, and look for activities between games across 40 tournament weekends a year.

Stuart Duncan, board president of the Chesterfield Sports Association, said the nearby Beal Center outgrew its nine basketball courts (convertible to 27 pickleball courts) within its first year. An expansion is already in the works.

"It's not uncommon to have a 120-team tournament where 80 percent of those teams are coming from out of town," Duncan said. "We've had teams from Canada, Hawaii, California, all over Texas come in to play in these events."

Dunker said the city is also looking at 30 acres of city-owned land near the complex for high school-size baseball fields. No budget or timeline has been set for that effort.

Aquatic Center Still in Play

Separately, the 30-year-old Chesterfield Family Aquatic Center is inching toward replacement. A 2023 feasibility study found water leaks, cracked concrete, corroded piping, and deteriorating deck surfaces. The city showed residents three design options at open houses in March, all featuring an expanded lap pool, water slides, a lazy river, a splash pad, and a community center room.

Dunker said more than 80% of surveyed residents support updating the facility. No bond vote date has been publicly confirmed.

A free pickleball open house runs today, April 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Beal Center, 150 N. Outer 40 Road, hosted by Callahan Pickleball Academy and USA Pickleball for National Pickleball Month.