Orange Beach Recreation Campus Gets Major Upgrades

John Mullen • December 5, 2025

Pickleball courts and parking expansion have already started

Orange Beach Recreation Campus Gets Major Upgrades

Orange Beach, Ala. – (OBA) – Plans continue in Orange Beach to make improvements to the recreation campus in the northwest intersection of Canal Road and Wilson Boulevard. Pickleball courts and expanded parking are already underway and, work has begun on Contorno Park on the western edge of the campus. Next on the drawing board is an additional pool.

 

“Currently, we are in the design process of the new pool,” City Administrator Ford Handley said. “The goal is to have a new separate pool with a splash pad and a few lanes. Once complete, we will then renovate the current pool to expand the lanes and continue to have the diving board well.”

 

Now the pool has a kiddie pool with water toys, lanes for swimming and a diving well. Water aerobics classes are among the offerings at the pool now.

 

“This will be a two-phase project that hopefully will go to bid in the middle of 2026 and span to 2027,” Handley said. “We will also have building upgrades on the pool site.”

 

Handley said the current work on the pickleball courts and added parking should be completed in the first quarter of 2026, and the first phase of the Contorno Park

 

“The Contorno Park bid is for a paved walking trail around the lake of the Contorno house that will connect to the improved Walker Lane,” Handley said. “This is part of a long project to connect the two campuses.” See related story: Orange Beach Moves Ahead With New Civic Center Plan

 

Improvements to Walker Lane on the west side of the community center were completed earlier this year.

 

Other work going on or completed in the city includes a connector road from the library to Waterfront Park and parking improvements on the east side of the library.


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