HomeMy WebLinkAbout041723 Public Comment re: Pickle Ball Courts 1) ( [CmM6?4t
RECEIVE
:x C�
April 17, 2023
APR 17 2023
•
Dear Jefferson County Commissioners; Greg Brotherton, Kate Dean, and Heidi Eisenhour, AUNTY
Pickle ball courts with no acoustic curtains do not belong in a residential neighborhood.
In spite of controversy over pickleball noise in residential neighborhoods evidenced on the
internet, blogs and news articles around the country, two pickle ball courts were installed at the
Jefferson County Courthouse Park without any community input or warning. Why?
Port Townsend has a noise ordinance of 60 decibels. We have measured more than 60
decibels from our front door across the street from the pickleball court with only one couple
playing. With 8 people playing the noise of ball paddle impact and player yelling is often
extreme. In good weather players are on the courts 8-12 hours a day without a break.
Please help our neighborhood. It is no longer pleasant to work in our garden or sit on
our deck. Inside our home, we hear the contact with hard pickle ball paddle and ball with all the
doors and windows closed. We cannot escape it!
We've been in conversation with Matt Tyler since early Sept 2022 about noise
attenuation at the Jefferson County Courthouse Park. There has been an empathetic ear but no
progress on noise attenuation.
• We implore you to a) close or at the very least, reduce the pickle ball court hours until
effective noise attenuation is in place and b) immediately create signage on the courts that
players need to quiet the pickleball culture of whooping and yelling during play in the
residential Jefferson County Courthouse Park area.
In our letter of April 6, 2023, also sent to Matt Tyler and the Jefferson County Park
Advisory Committee, we gave a couple of resources for noise attenuation screens that other
communities have successfully used for pickle ball courts. We hope Jefferson County will begin
an effective search for noise attenuation.
Thank you for your consideration on the Pickle Ball noise problem in the Jefferson County
Courthouse neighborhood,
Charles and Harriet Cannon
234 Cass Street, Port Townsend
narriet@harrietcannon.com
cjcannon@seanet.com