Prairie Village residents who live near Windsor Park will need to wait on any pickleball noise relief.
The Prairie Village City Council on Tuesday voted 9-2 to send the pickleball noise issue at Windsor Park back to the city’s parks and recreation committee for a solution.
Some residents near Windsor Park have complained about pickleball noise — what has become both a national and local uproar — since six courts were installed in June.
City council opts against buying sound dampening panels
- City staff presented four sound dampening panel options to the city council on Tuesday, which ranged from $23,000 to $39,000.
- SLN/CR, a sound absorbing fabric that was also the staff recommended option, came in at $23,000.
- That option is said to absorb 70% of the sound created by the hard pickleball paddles hitting the plastic ball. The fabric, as proposed, would have covered the north and east sides of the fence around the Windsor Park pickleball courts.
- City staff also told the city council that another option is repainting the courts to bring back tennis at Windsor Park with as little as two pickleball courts.
- The city council ultimately decided on sending this issue back to the parks and recreation committee for a recommended solution.
The city considered panels and restriping
Much of the governing body’s discussion around pickleball sound at Windsor Park centered around buying the panels, restriping or a combination of the two.
Mayor Eric Mikkelson introduced the topic by recommending the city council discuss whether pickleball is appropriate for Windsor Park. He has previously been vocal about concerns that the sport is changing the character of the family park.
Councilmember Lori Sharp said she’s heard from Ward 3 residents who are concerned about both the noise the game create as well as the parking and traffic it causes — with many players appearing to come from across the state line.
Sharp said the city might want to find a way to require non-residents to pay a fee to use the pickleball courts.
Some like Ward 6 Councilmember Terrence Gallagher and Ward 3 Councilmember Lauren Wolf — both of whom have been heavily involved in the parks and recreation committee — supported the idea of paring down the number of pickleball courts at Windsor Park.
Gallagher cautioned against the idea of moving pickleball to a different park entirely, saying there are no other good options.
Councilmembers Ian Graves and Cole Robinson both supported buying sound mitigation panels.
The city council voted 9-2 on a motion made by Gallagher to remand the solution back to the committee. Cole Robinson and Graves cast the dissenting votes, and Councilmember Greg Shelton was absent.
The committee previously recommended a sound study
- The parks and recreation committee discussed the pickleball sound issue at its September meeting and recommended an independent sound study to learn more.
- That study, conducted by Pickleball Sound Mitigation LLC, found neighbors to the north and east are more impacted by the sound due to the proximity to the courts.
- Back in November 2023, the city council gave city staff the green light to get quotes on four different pickleball sound mitigation manufacturers.
Next steps:
- The parks and recreation committee is scheduled to meet on March 6.
- A recommendation from the committee is expected to come back to the city council for final approval.
- Mayor Mikkelson suggested that the committee meet in February to speed up the process.
Go deeper: Watch the entire discussion online here, starting at 1:32:50.
