Dear editor:

Your July 10 article on the Queenston Heights pickleball courts indicates they are not being used (The Lake Report, “New Queenston Heights courts in a pickle?” page 12). Maybe the town should consider shutting down the Virgil courts to move that traffic to Queenston Heights.

The courts there are removed from any residential area, while the Virgil courts are less than 50 feet from a number of residences.

Before anyone responds with vitriolic responses like, “These people live on a sports park … what did they expect?” We lived there for six years before pickleball and had no issue with anything in the park.

Truly, if the town had done its due diligence, it would have found that scores of other municipalities in Canada and the U.S. did studies that resulted, in many cases, in changing plans for location and in some cases actually moving existing courts.

The reason for these decisions comes from the reports that came out of the studies, all recommending that outdoor pickleball not be located within 300 to 600 feet of any residence. Just Google “outdoor pickleball distance from homes in Canada.”

Add to this that the provincial guideline for impulse noise during the daytime hours is 50 decibels. The Wikipedia definition of impulse noise cites pickleball as an example. The Virgil courts have been measured at 77 decibels with only three courts active.

Rick Gallant
NOTL