Pickleball passion provokes noise problem for Tecumseh residents

In the Town of Tecumseh, residents and athletes alike are facing a pickleball problem that may prove costly.

Council is planning on modifying 2-year-old courts following resident noise complaints concerning the game. They say that it's the constant tapping of the plastic pickleball echoing into their homes that’s so disturbing.

Pickleball player Conor Cartier said that since first hitting a pickleball court in 2022, the game has helped him grow, "it got me to spend more time to be comfortable with adults - and I can for sure see it helping my future like work life.”

The game itself has seen an explosion in popularity in recent years, and Tecumseh built it’s own pickleball complex in 2022.

While he has a passion for the sport, Cartier conceded, "I guess in general it could be a noisy game."

Following several residents filing noise complaints with the town, a study determined sound levels to be well above the suggested limit for commercial and industrial settings - coming in at 75 dB instead of the recommended 50 dB.

As a result, the town is serving up a solution; planning to install barriers at two local court sites at an estimated cost of $500,000.

At a meeting on Tuesday night Tecumseh council agreed to apply for a provincial grant to cover half of that cost.

Depsite the hiccup, council is standing by the court's location – including Deputy Mayor Joe Bachetti, "we're going to deal with it. We're not going to ignore it. And moving forward, this recommendation, I think, is the right one.”

For disciples of the game like Cartier, the change is fine, as long as they're not to the game. "I think it'd be kind of ugly, but I can for sure see the benefit if that makes it so we can stay here longer. I'm all for."

While the province could come in to fund half the improvements, that still leaves the town on the hook for the other half.

Council is planning to pull money from a lighting project for the courts to instead deal with the noise issue.

As of right now there's no official timeline for when this work would begin.