The sound of pickleball paddles striking whiffle balls likely won’t return to Virgil Sports Park this spring and summer, as the long-standing issue of noise complaints, which led to a prior two-year ban on pickleball at the Virgil courts, persists.
Niagara-on-the-Lake council voted to keep the courts closed at its Tuesday meeting while it works to provide pickleball players with access to an another outdoor court this year.
Coun. Erwin Wiens said the town is closing the courts because it couldn’t find a solution to the noise issues that led to the ban from 2022 to 2024.
“We had tried everything we could to mitigate the noise and mitigate the issues and we’re just unsuccessful in doing that,” he said.
In 2022, a resident of the courts’ neighbouring Lamberts Walk condominiums took both the town and the NOTL Pickleball Club to court over what she described as excessive noise from the park.
A Welland court judge found both the town and the club in violation of the municipal noise bylaw and ordered the two-year probation on pickleball at the Virgil courts. The town and the club were each fined $1,000.
NOTL Pickleball Club president Dragana Simao said this latest closure has left the members of the NOTL Pickleball Club “surprised and disappointed.”
“They have been a valued recreational space for both our members and the broader community.”
Simao detailed the club’s efforts to reduce the noise levels after the ban was lifted.
“Sound barriers were installed, with financial contributions from the club,” she said. “In addition, the club reduced its scheduled play hours, particularly in the early mornings and evenings.”
“It’s also important to note that the courts were frequently used by the general public, including visitors to NOTL, reflecting the sport’s growing popularity.”
Janice Young, a resident of building D at Lamberts Walk since 2019, which is the furthest building from the pickleball courts in that neighbourhood, said she was disappointed by the closure.
“For me, it’s a pleasant sound,” she said, saying she just heard ball hitting and laughter.
“I don’t necessarily think that the people who’ve made these complaints are like most of the residents from Lamberts Walk, I don’t think they would agree.”
She described the sports game in the area, including basketball and baseball, as “all a part of life.”
Young said the sound barriers didn’t make a huge difference from her perspective, and that it was “more of a visual” to appease people in buildings A and B, which are closer to the court.
Wiens said the town would have to move “as quick as they can” to find a new location.
Simao said the club has 525 members. She said that “while we don’t have exact seasonal usage figures, the Virgil courts were regularly used by a significant number of members, in addition to community residents and visitors to NOTL.”
The courts were frequently used outside club-designated hours, she added.
Pickleball will remain available outdoors at Queenston Heights Park and indoors year-round at the NOTL Community Centre, as well as at Centennial Arena in the spring and summer.
