The fate of pickleball in Chilmark will be headed to the court of public opinion.
During a Tuesday evening meeting, the Chilmark Select Board unanimously approved moving forward for review a proposed zoning bylaw amendment to ban pickleball courts, per the request of the Chilmark planning board.
“The appropriate placement of the bylaw within the zoning bylaws will be determined during the public hearing process,” the planning board letter reads.
The planning board had been grappling with whether to have a moratorium on building pickleball courts, or outright banning the game.
Planning board member Peter Cook said at least a dozen letters against pickleball in Chilmark have been submitted to the town. These letters stated concerns over the noise produced by the activity.
“The feeling of the planning board was that a moratorium would be a good idea,” Cook said. “Town counsel said if you want to have a moratorium, the practical way to do that is to announce that there’s a public hearing on a ban.”
According to Cook, the rationalization given by town counsel was that a public hearing to ban the sport would disincentivize constructing a court, since it might need to be removed if the prohibition was implemented. This would, in effect, cause a moratorium to occur while the public hearing process took place.
“It would be the only time to hear any support for pickleball, because we have not had any correspondence [in favor],” Cook said.
Select board member Jim Malkin agreed the best path forward seemed to be the public hearing process, to really know what residents wanted.
“Pickleball is a national issue,” he said. “It’s not just here. We have people who are against the noise. We have people who are for the game.”
When select board member Marie Larsen asked how many pickleball courts were in the town, select board chair Bill Rossi said there weren’t many, if any.
A point raised during the meeting was whether people could still use a tennis court to play pickleball if a ban was set, which is a question the town would need to explore.
No date has yet been set for the public hearing.
Can you improve your online sign in? Every time I open an article, I have to go through the same process and sign in;? On occasion I just keep signing it and never get to the article. It’s frustrating.
I actually wrote the above comment as an alternative approach to attempting to sign in, and it worked! – providing me the opportunity to read the article on pickle ball. I happen to be a fan of the game, which I like to equate to one of my favorite instruments, the ukulele. While both are anoyying to some, both are relatively easy to learn to play and fun; also, in both disciplines, one can feel the success of improvement fairly quickly while still feeling the challenge of perfecting a better “game.” And – in the pickke ball example – who can deny the benefits to heart and mind of earnestly chasing a ball mindlessly for an hour or so??
But the ugly truth is, I would not want a pickle ball court moving in next door to me, if you know what I mean. And to be certain you do, let me spell it out: if you are not the one creating the noise, pickle all is an annoyingly noisy game. But certainly there is a solution, and while it unfortunately is costly, it is one I believe is worth the expense.
Consider if you will, a Pickle Ball Barn! The minimum playing surface required by USA Pickleball measures 30 feet wide by 60 feet long (which includes ample room to all sides of the court for running out of bounds). Certainly the town, or an industrious entrpeneur, could conceive and construct a facility to house four courts, and, with a proper budget, a second floor could be designed for more courts, and/or ping pong tables, dart boards…! You could really go to town and have some less noisy outdoor activities such as shuffle board or bocce! Add a juice and coffee bar and you might just create a space which could function as a community center of sorts, and a 4-season one at that. You are only limited by your imagination. Well, and your budget, of course, but first things first. Where there’s a will, there’s a wallet!
Perhaps there is some available land out near the landfill, which would also give people an excuse to drop off their recyclebles. This just could be a win/win proposition!
The island of No is alive and well, and slowly becoming the island of no fun. If people are enjoying themselves for example at an outdoor music venue, we need to stop it, if you’re playing a game in your backyard we need to stop it.
Sorry, but this is just stupid and overreaching. My neighbor across the street in chilmark has a pickle ball court. It is only used occasionally and is less noise than the tennis court (Just up the street.) Come on people, let’s use some common sense.
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