Town staff recommends reopening of outdoor pickleball courts

It’s the news that members of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Pickleball Club have been waiting almost two years to hear. A report will go to the town’s committee of the whole Tuesday recommending reopening the outdoor pickleball courts at the Virgil Sports Park on Monday, June 17.

In an email to club members credited to their board of directors, more information as to the final schedule for days and times will be shared as the date nears. In the meantime, pickleball play will move temporarily back into the Centennial Arena starting on April 17.

In a report available on the Town’s website, staff is recommending that council approve the reopening of the outdoor pickleball courts as of Monday, June 17. Certain reopening provisions and a transfer of $10,000 from the capital reserve to a capital project to purchase acoustic panels contingent upon the outcome of an Ontario Trillium Grant Application are also part of the report.

The outdoor pickleball courts at the Virgil Sports Park were constructed in 2019, replacing two tennis courts that were previously installed and in disrepair. The outdoor location became a popular place for pickleball players to gather as club membership rapidly began to grow.

In 2022, a nearby resident involved the town in legal proceedings by challenging NOTL’s noise by-law. The matter went to court and the Town lost its defence. The provincial court judge imposed a ban on the use of the outdoor courts for two years and fined both the club and the town$1,000, That ban expires on June 15. 2024.

The story about the legal proceedings and the subsequent ban on using the courts made headlines across North America, drawing attention to NOTL for unwanted reasons. 

During the ban, The town made accommodations for pickleball play on the dry concrete pad in Centennial Arena from mid-April to mid-August. 

Then, on June 20, 2022, council revised and approved amendments to the existing noise bylaw to exempt sound arising from sports or recreation activities on Town-owned properties. The amended noise bylaw matches those of many other municipalities, allowing “any emission of sound or vibration” on town-owned property from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., from sporting or recreational activities, as approved by the director of operations or delegate of the town.

The Local posted an interactive poll on its website in February, 2024 about the outdoor courts. The results were overwhelmingly in favour of reopening the Virgil facility. 

Talks have been ongoing between the pickleball club and the town since January, 2024. The proposal to reopen the courts comes with some changes. 

Hours of use are to be from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. Monday to Friday; 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with some courts and times reserved for open public play. Rather than an access code system used by club members to enter the courts two years ago, volunteers will open and close the courts each day, ensuring that the agreed-upon times are adhered to. 

As well, the NOTL Pickleball Club has purchased a number of noise-reduction paddles to use in a pilot program to study ways to effectively reduce the decibel levels. 

Finally, the town proposal includes the installation of approximately 180 feet of acoustic panels designed to reduce the noise level from pickleball play by 10 to 15 decibels, deflecting the sound into the park space and away from the adjacent residential homes. 

Since its inception in 2017, the NOTL Pickleball club has grown exponentially. There are more than 600 current club members all playing the game indoors between the NOTL Community Centre on Anderson Lane, Central Community Centre on York Road, and for the past two months, at a temporary dome at John N. Allan Park on Kalar Road in Niagara Falls. 

With the potential reopening, the club expects its membership to surpass the 700 mark. 

Deputy Lord Mayor Erwin Wiens is as ecstatic about the move as are the club members. 

“It’s exciting that we’re going to be opening those pickleball courts,” Wiens told The Local Friday evening. “We’re going to do the best we can to address the noise issue.”

Wiens says the goal for the town all through the period of the ban was to reopen the courts. When asked if there was a lot of back and forth between the town and the club he said it was more of a collaboration between the two groups to devise the best way to make it happen. 

The email from the club suggests that members will most likely be charged a nominal fee to use the outdoor courts in their effort to help pay for the sound barriers that will be installed.

With the amendment to the noise bylaw, the noise-mitigation measures and the reduced times, Wiens is convinced that there will be no further legal challenges to the use of the courts. 

“We are always open to listening to the public,” Wiens said, “but we’re going to be opening the courts, that’s the plan. The issue was the noise, and we are addressing the noise issue. The exemption we added to the bylaw for sports is common in most municipalities. That’s why we added it.”

Wiens, a member of the Niagara Parks Commission board, suggests as well that the tennis courts currently in place at Queenston Heights Park are closer to being converted for pickleball play, providing another location for enthusiasts. 

“And I’d like to see even more courts in Virgil, too,” he added.