Council Seeks Expert Review After New Beaver Valley Pickleball Court Concerns

A reconfiguration at the Beaver Valley Community Centre in Thornbury that added a third indoor pickleball court has prompted safety and facility-planning concerns from local players and residents. The complaint that the courts were squeezed into too small a space reached council after a letter from local player Laureen Fisher, who wrote, "After playing on these courts for many months, I feel these courts are very dangerous because they do not have the regulated measurements around each court for safety."

At its Feb. 17 meeting, council unanimously passed a resolution directing staff to prepare a follow-up report on options for the Beaver Valley Community Centre courts and to engage a pickleball expert as part of that work. Ryan Gibbons, the town’s director of community services, said staff were "in the process of contacting such an expert to review the situation" and added, "What we want to understand is: what is the right balance for our community centre."

Fisher's letter also raised a practical play safety issue that has resonated locally: "While playing pickleball you have to go off your court many times to get shots and the way these courts are constructed you are actually on other people's courts during a game." Local reporting of the reconfiguration noted players worry that three courts have been squeezed into a space that is too small, and Councillor Paula Hope acknowledged the concern, saying, "There are, certainly, legitimate concerns about the lines."

The debate over court siting and community consultation is not new in The Blue Mountains. A posting dated Sept. 25, 2019 on TheBlueMountains.org from an author who said, "We have enjoyed a small cottage across from the Bayview Park tennis courts for the past 47 years," recounts that the author "accidently found out that a new pickleball facility was to be constructed beside the tennis courts" in July 2019, submitted a letter to Town Hall on July 25, and said that letter "was subsequently read at Council on September 9th." That 2019 posting raised noise, parking and property-value concerns, warning that "any effective solution will be expensive and again come out of the tax payer’s pockets" and noting examples where "Residents of cities such as Kingston, ON have made their cases about the noise from pickleball courts and they are now being relocated to non-residential areas."

The 2019 author also described interactions with town staff, reporting that "When asked about what the Town would do when they receive noise complaints after it is built, Mr. Gibbons stated that they would be willing to work with us to try to find a solution," and that Mr. Gibbons "mentioned that the Town will be reviewing the parking by-laws" for Bayview Park because "currently, there are no by-laws regarding parking in the Bayview Park other than the no parking signs on either side."

With council's unanimous direction and town staff actively contacting a pickleball expert, the next formal step recorded in current reporting is a staff report on options for the Beaver Valley Community Centre that will follow the expert review.