Six pickleball courts in Prairie Village, Kan., may be permanently shuttered after an outcry from neighbors who say the sport is just too loud.
Residents in the area are looking for a solution to the noise problem being at Windsor Park. Closing them is just one of three options currently on the table.
The complaints began last summer, shortly after Prairie Village Parks and Recreation converted the tennis courts to pickleball courts. The city council looked into installing noise-dampening curtains around part of the court, and they also did a noise study to figure out which neighbors would be most bother by the sound from the courts.
Related: How USA Pickleball and Others Are Trying to Mitigate the Sport's Noise Problem
Now the council is considering the following options, according to Fox 4:
- Install noise-dampening curtains for $23,000
- Install curtains and reduce the number of pickleball courts from six to four, turning two of them back into a tennis court.
- The final option is to get rid of all the pickleball courts and turn them back into tennis courts.
Aside from the noise, neighbors said they courts have draw crowds, resulting in more cars parked on the street. Others say noise dampening curtains will block parents' view of their kids playing in the park.
