The pickleball noise and impact on family homes
Will the popular growing outdoor pickleball activity bring down the value of your home? Yes, if the city or town does not plan properly or act quickly.
Recently, some cities and towns are permitting the transformation of outdoor tennis courts into pickleball courts without adequately considering the impact on families at nearby homes within 1000 feet. There is no noise from people playing tennis, and the specific range of noise from pickleball is loud and extremely unpleasant.
The loud, annoying, and unnatural sound of ‘pop’, ‘pop’, ‘pop’, ‘pop’ at 119 hours per week inside a family home with the windows closed is a significant violation for families being able to enjoy their property. The sound is not annoying to players who watch or play for a few hours per week.
Selling a home
Several people are quickly selling their homes before the word gets out about how bad it really is or will be, some want to keep the home they’ve had for many years. Some are willing to question the bad planning by the city or town and lack of consultation with them and as a result some cities have relocated the pickleball courts.
Unable to sell a home
People that have tried to sell their home are not able to because potential buyers said they wouldn’t be able to listen to that abusive pickleball noise inside their home for their family, it’s not worth it.
There are people that cannot sell their home due to the costs associated with it or they love the home they purchased years ago or they prefer not to commute further for work and school and have amazing neighbors.
Renovating a home
People have spent thousands of dollars renovating their home over the years to increase the value of their home.
Has that been a huge waste of money? It depends; most people will not want to hear ‘pop’, ‘pop’, ‘pop’, ‘pop’ sound 17 hours a day or even 5 hours a day inside and outside of their homes. If the city relocates the courts further from family residences at least 1000 feet, then it’s a non-issue.
Renting a home
Some renters of a home or linked home are trying to end their leases sooner or they do not want to renew.
Buying a home
Buying a home is one of the most significant decisions, and quite possibly the largest and most crucial purchase, in someone’s lifetime for their family.
If you’re buying a home, some real estate agents will be honest and look into the pickleball court and noise situation, while some will try to tell you it’s a tennis court and not a pickleball court, or they may not know.
Check the city plans online before you buy a home to find out where they plan to build new outdoor pickleball courts or plan to convert them from tennis courts into pickleball courts for 2025, 2026, and so on.
One person said, ‘People think we hate the sport. I don’t hate it; I just want to enjoy my home and preserve my property value.’
Solutions for cities or towns to make players happy and make families in their homes happy
- Leave outdoor tennis courts ‘as’ tennis courts when family homes are located within 1000 feet.
- Stop spending money on various sound-proofing that have not been successful for families.
- Build many more outdoor pickleball courts in locations that are more than 1000 feet from family homes.
- Build dedicated indoor pickleball courts, similar to squash or racquetball.
- Discontinue the plan of building new outdoor pickleball courts near family homes as scheduled in 2025, 2026 and so on.
How to measure distances ‘in feet’ on Google Maps from an outdoor pickleball court to a home
- Open Google Maps
- Right click on the starting point
- Scroll down and select ‘Measure distance’
- Click anywhere on the map to create a path or add another point
- The total distance will appear at the bottom in feet, metres, miles and kilometres.
Click here for more supporting news documents and videos about the pickleball noise issue.
Eliza Woods | R&D FYA | December 27, 2024