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The growing popularity of pickleballs has sparked a noisy conflict in Laguna Beach. There, the new city ordinance that came into effect Thursday requires players to use quiet paddles and risk fines.
Laguna Beach City Council adopted a new ordinance in March in response to complaints from residents of a senior residential facility called Vista Aliso, who said the sound of a pickleball game at nearby Lang Park causes serious anxiety and stress.
Lang Park pickleball players will need to pony up about $100 each to switch to quiet paddles. If they do not, the ordinance says players can face citations.
Pickleballs are similar to tennis, but the courts are small, the balls are plastic and have holes, and the paddles aren’t as big as tennis rackets.
The adoption of the new ordinance did not please everyone on either side of the pickleball feud.
The council has already built fences around the park to reduce the time that pickleballs can play in the park and to block out noise.
“I support this quiet paddle ordinance as a compromise, but I support the expansion of time at Lang Park,” Laguna Beach Mayor Alex Lunagi said in a statement in the Times. “Pickleball is a life-changing sport for many who bring together our communities, and I am committed to creating more recreational opportunities for our town.”
Some seniors at Vista Aliso said the ordinance would not do enough to alleviate the noise issue, but members of the pickleball community said they are tired of giving seniors very positive treatment.
The law is “ineffective,” said Susana Kurciana, a resident of Vista Aliso, who insisted that the pickle ball court should be fully moved.
“They continue to create an adversarial environment,” she said.
Pickleball player cried out and humiliated him for complaining about the noise, Kurciana said.
“The claim that I hate kids, outdoor sports, or laughing is slippery and false. Unlike general traffic noise and other park activities, the noise from the pickleball is high and excessive,” she said.
However, the pickleball player returned the volley.
“The pickleball player has acquiesced about spending 24k on a new paddle and losing days…I’m not really sure what the gal behind me has acquiesced,” said Hilary Custon, referring to one of the disgruntled Vista Aliso residents.
Caston called on the council to reclaim some of the playtime the pickleball players lost due to complaints. The council closed the court to pickle balls on Monday, reducing the time to Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
“I think we’ve come to a point where we’ve fully acquiesced as pickleball players… It’s time to realize that this is our community,” Caston said.
In the long run, councillor Sue Kempf spoke to the Orange County Register and said the council is considering moving the pickleball court further away from the senior living facility.
The fight over noise from the pickleball court has been raging from coast to coast as the game has gained popularity over the past decade. In 2020, 4.8 million people played sports at least once, an increase of 40% over just two years ago.
A lawsuit has been filed over noise related to games across the country. Researchers say the sound of a solid pickle ball hit can be 25 decibels larger than the loudest tennis racket strike.
“The medical effects of this are very deep and people don’t understand it, but it triggers combat or flight responses that cause all sorts of stress hormones,” says Narinirashivich, who runs a nonprofit called Pickle Ball Noise Relief, which helped to conduct research into the harmful effects of pickle balls on nearby residents.
Lasiewicz heard and testified at the city council last month about the quiet paddles, saying it wasn’t enough to deal with the harm to the elderly.
“Even if players stop hitting, those who suffer from this syndrome will continue to hear the noise even if it’s not happening,” she said.
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