NEWPORT — Tennis enthusiasts are now ahead of 1-Love in the battle against pickle players for court space as the city imposes tighter restrictions on pickleball court hours following several noise complaints from residents abutting Hunter and Vernon parks.
“It’s like being in a locker room,” hunter park said Warren Garner in the City hallRegular meeting on Wednesday. “(The noise) comes in through the windows, it comes in through the doors, and there’s really no place in the house to stop it.”
The City Council unanimously adopted a new ordinance at its regular Wednesday night meeting that will add the recently limited hours of operation for pickleball courts at Hunter and Vernon parks to the city code, making it easier to comply with the hours to the city. Tennis courts were also to receive the same limited hours under the new ordinance until the council voted to remove them from the restriction.
In addition to restricting pickleball court hours, the ordinance also prohibits pickleball players from drawing temporary pickleball court lines on other tennis courts. Both restrictions arise in response to noise complaints from residents of the park.
“Most of the discussion has been around the impact that pickleball has had on parks and shared use of courts, so I think just putting a restriction on pickleball courts makes sense to me,” he said. councilman Jamie Bova.
Despite Newport Utilities Recreation Division instituted stricter hours of operation for Newport’s hybrid pickleball and tennis courts in 2021, city staff recently became aware of players ignoring restricted hours of operation and getting noise complaints from nearby residents. In addition, staff also received complaints from pickleball players temporarily installing lines on tennis courts across the city, as the popularity of the sport has overwhelmed the few pickleball facilities in Newport.
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“I think Newport is one of the first communities to have these pickleball courts and we learn as we go and maybe as we go we need to get them out of residential areas,” said Councilwoman Lynn Underwood Ceglie. she said, “We’re working to make things better.”
Newport resident Mona Barbera, whose home abuts Hunter Park, thanked the City Council for their consideration of the ordinance. She said the noise issues she’s been experiencing are unique to pickleball, both in the way the game is played and in the reactions of the players themselves.
“The culture is similar to that in the stands, but in this sport the screaming comes from the players,” Barbera said. “It’s like bleachers where people feel completely free to express their joy and despair in a guttural verbal production.”
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School Committee candidate Kendra Muenter appeared alongside fellow Newport resident and tennis player Amy Machado to thank the City Council for saving tennis courts from ordinance restrictions due to the difference in noise produced by the two sports.
However, two pickleball players filed objections to the ordinance. Portsmouth resident Matthew Yates said imposing a restriction on pickleball was unfair as playing tennis also creates noise and suggested the city look at a different enforcement tactic to reduce noise. Another Newport resident, Libby Gill, said the courts are overcrowded and they need more courts away from residential areas.
Recreation Administrator Erik Reis explained that the current distance standard to reduce noise impact in residential communities severely reduces the parcels of land that could be placed on pickleball courts due to Newport’s dense population. City Manager Joseph Nicholson said the city has been keeping an eye out for opportunities but is waiting to see what land might become available after the Pell Bridge realignment project.
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“I don’t want to sound joking here, but it took me about five years to find a place for a basketball court,” Nicholson joked. “We are managing what we have.”