Wealthy California town bans pickleball over noise complaints from paddles hitting balls

The wealthy oceanfront town of Carmel California has banned pickleball in its populace park after residents complained that the constant sound of paddles striking balls was too noisy The Carmel City Council voted earlier this month to permanently prohibit the sport at Forest Hill Park the only residents pickleball location within city limits marking the first such ban in the state according to sfgate com Residents communicated that the popping sound had been echoing through the neighborhood as players participated in the meeting that has grown in popularity particularly among seniors and retirees the outlet disclosed The council put a temporary ban in place last month until it came up with a permanent answer according to the overview Their best idea was to require soft paddles and balls to reduce the noise from plastic balls hitting wooden paddles CALIFORNIA SPORTS LEAGUE MEETING SEES PARENTS CLASHING OVER TRANS ATHLETESHowever at a city council meeting on Nov several residents stated the temporary ban helped them enjoy a quieter region after the constant noise from the contest It s been so peaceful and quiet Carmel resident Kimberly Edwards mentioned at the meeting adding that there had been an uptick in tennis players especially younger people But Edwards was skeptical that the ban would be able to be enforced There s gonna be a trouble she mentioned These aren t supervised courts You know that They re not there s no parks and rec department So as I addressed in my letter Who s going to enforce this Am I going to have to hear a noise and then call the police Is a police officer going to have to be you know sitting there on these courts supervising them CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD MEETING DESCENDS INTO EMOTIONAL CLASH AMID TRANS VOLLEYBALL PARTICIPANT ARGUMENT You guys are all in this position to protect us she explained That s your number one goal That s what your job is not to placate these pickleball enthusiasts Competitive pickleball contestant Barbara Lang who declared she no longer uses the Forest Hill Park courts argued that even quiet pickleball at the park would be preferable to banning the sport If you want to try it with the quiet ball I think it s only fair to the players to give that a chance she announced stressing that she speaks for multiple pickleballers not in attendance The city council decided against compromising by allowing the sport to be played with quieter equipment which would have required monitoring We re just overcomplicating it in the name of compromise council member Alissandra Dramov announced adding that she had to accept the reality this is not a good location for pickleball The city will draft an ordinance to permanently ban pickleball at the park Opponents of the ban will have two more hearings to appeal the ban once it is created It s just a really tough thing to enforce Mayor Dale Byrne noted siding with the ban And I can t ask the police chief to send his people up there It s really sad that we can t figure this out