The Needham Pool and Racquet Club wants to add a fourth paddle tennis court to its 1545 Central Ave. property and raise the membership cap for its paddle program from 150 to 200 players.

The club filed an application with the Needham Zoning Board of Appeals to amend the special permit it received in July 2020, when it first won approval to build paddle courts on the site. The ZBA will hold a public hearing on the request Thursday, Aug. 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the Charles River Room at the Public Services Administration Building, 500 Dedham Ave., according to a legal notice posted by the town.

The expansion would represent a 33 percent increase in the club's permitted membership cap.

Demand appears to back the request. The Needham Platform Tennis Club, the nonprofit 501(c)(3) that operates the paddle program on the Pool and Racquet Club's property, lists approximately 160 members on its membership page, slightly above the current permitted cap of 150, and a waitlist of more than 125 people. Individual memberships run $800 per year, family memberships $1,200, plus a one-time $1,000 initiation fee and a $1,500 refundable bond.

The club's bylaws give first priority for open slots to members of the Pool and Racquet Club, then to Needham residents, then to non-residents. The membership page warns that non-Needham residents without a Pool and Racquet affiliation could wait five or more years.

Carl Ptorius, director of tennis at the Pool and Racquet Club and head of the paddle program, described the demand in an October 2025 video profile by the American Platform Tennis Association: "For a lot of people, they have never heard of paddle until they were offered a membership here and wanted to jump on it because it's part of the community. It's part of the town."

When the club opened membership in February 2021, it sold out in a single day, Ptorius said in the same video.

The paddle program launched in October 2021 after a North Shore club known as "the truck stop" donated two courts. The Pool and Racquet Club added a third court and built a warming hut. The property, which sits in a Single Residence A zoning district, also includes two swimming pools, 12 tennis courts, a playground and a snack bar. Because the club operates in a residential zone, any expansion requires ZBA approval rather than a standard building permit.

Residents can attend the Aug. 20 hearing in person or join remotely via Zoom. Application materials are available from zoning specialist Tristan Roubenoff at [email protected] or (781) 455-7550, ext. 72261.