The national furor over pickleball noise has made its way to Prairie Village
The city recently installed six pickleball courts at Windsor Park, 7200 Windsor St., and after receiving some complaints from neighbors about the incessant thwack-thwack noise coming from the courts, the city says it is looking at ways to address it.
At the same time that the recreational sport has exploded in popularity in recent years, pickleball noise has also become the subject of numerous lawsuits across the U.S., including an apparently now-settled one involving pickleball courts at Mission Hills Country Club.
Prairie Village may install dampening curtains
- At the Aug. 7 city council meeting, Mayor Eric Mikkelson said the city is looking at ordering “sound dampening curtains” for the Windsor Park courts.
- The Johnson County Park and Recreation District took a similar measure at pickleball courts at Meadowbrook Park in Prairie Village, and installed a sound fence along the north side of the courts, Public Works Director Keith Bredehoeft told the Post via email
- The sound fence has been an effective method in limiting noise from traveling to a residential neighborhood north of the park, Bredehoeft said.
A city committee will review pricing, options
- Bredehoeft said the city has been looking at sound-dampening options and their respective prices.
- Those will be discussed at the September meeting of the city’s parks and recreation committee, and some next step will be finalized, he said.
- If the cost is more than $20,000, then it must come before the city council for approval, but Bredehoeft said he was unsure whether the cost would be more than that.
Windsor Park hours may also be discussed
- Mikkleson told the city council earlier this month that pickleball is louder than tennis and that it can be heard from a couple of blocks away.
- While Windsor Park is the neighborhood where he lives, he said he does not hear the noise from the pickleball courts, but he knows there are families with babies and elderly citizens nearby who could be impacted by it.
- He said he thinks the parks and recreation committee should discuss park hours — currently 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. — because pickleball being played until 11 p.m. on a weeknight “seems too late.”
- Bredehoeft said park hours at Windsor Park will also be discussed at the September committee meeting.
Go deeper: Mission Hills Country Club pickleball lawsuit appears to have been settled
