‘Unbearable’ sound of outdoor pickleball to be mitigated in Ontario city

Pickleball has quickly become one of the country’s fastest growing and most popular sports. But is it also among the loudest and most annoying?

After numerous complaints from residents near newly installed courts at Shadybrook Park in Pickering last year, the city called in an Aurora-based company to perform a noise study to see how the “unbearable” sounds of the paddle meeting the pickleball could be mitigated.

Turns out, according to the study conducted by Actinium Engineering, the direction of play (with the help of some noise mitigation panels) was the key to reducing the noise levels.

The construction of the third court at Shadybrook Park, accommodating both tennis and pickleball, opened in August 2024, with pickleball courts in an east-west orientation on each half of the tennis court.

Complaints from nearby residents quickly followed:

• “I am dreading May 1 when the pickleball courts open,” said Stephanie Burns, who lives 28 metres from the four outdoor courts.
• John Jansen, whose property backs on the park, called the decision to put the courts in a residential neighbourhood a “pickleball fiasco” and said the noise was “simply unbearable.”

The initial study conducted last December showed that the installation of noise mitigation measures and the removal of pickleball from the east courts was required to significantly reduce sound levels at the north and west receptors.

Shadybrook Park

The engineering noise model illustrated that these interventions would reduce sound levels “significantly” by eight to 14 decibels, prompting the city to install solid noise mitigation panels on the west, north, and part of the south fences of the tennis/pickleball court and removing the two eastern pickleball courts from play.

“Noise mitigation panels will have little effect on reducing noise generated from the east courts as the courts are oriented in an east-west direction,” the report declared. “When players hit the ball upwards, the sound travels over the three-metre-high panels on the west side. As a result, the panels have no effect to lower noise levels for the second-story of the homes to the west.”

During the last two years pickleball experienced rapid growth and was emerging as a mainstream sport across North America, with millions of new participants annually. Despite this surge, there was limited guidance or standardized design best practices for pickleball courts in public parks, particularly regarding minimizing noise and sound impacts to surrounding residents.

Municipalities across Canada have begun restricting or banning pickleball courts in residential areas due to excessive noise and the negative impact on residents’ quiet enjoyment of their homes.

Ward 1 Councillor Lisa Robinson, who introduced a motion to cut the number of courts in half, said it was always a “bad idea” to locate the courts that close to residential homes. “The level of noise is overwhelming.”

New courts are now open at Diana, Princess of Wales Park on Pickering Parkway, with the information learned from the noise study at Shadybrook Park influencing the final design.

Future pickleball courts at Diana, Princess of Wales Park in Pickering