New pickleball courts win approval in Newport Beach
Newport Beach parks commissioners have given their blessing to adding pickleball courts to Bonita Canyon Sports Park.
The Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission this month voted 6-0, with Commissioner Roy Englebrecht absent, to approve a $500,000 proposal to design and build four courts in the park’s western section.
The courts, near the basketball courts off Ford Road, would be enclosed by hedges and a 10-foot-tall fence to help contain noise.
The commission’s decision came after the city accommodated rising interest in the sport — which is similar to tennis but uses a paddle instead of a racket — at San Joaquin Hills Park by temporarily modifying a tennis court there in 2014.
City officials said the move “proved sufficient for the start-up of pickleball play” in Newport Beach, which even hosted a pickleball “demo day” in 2013. But it has had a negative effect on the park’s tennis and lawn bowling play, leading the city to look for a more suitable permanent site, officials said.
In recent years, residents have raised issues about how noisy the game can be. In March, Corona del Mar resident Sarah Thomas sued the city over noise at the San Joaquin Hills courts.
She alleged that the noise drove down the value of her home on Jetty Drive — about 100 yards from the courts — and caused her “severe mental suffering, frustration and anxiety.”
Thomas dropped the case this month, according to Orange County Superior Court records.
City Attorney Aaron Harp said the city did not reach a settlement with her but has instituted a variety of measures intended to mitigate noise, including limiting hours of play and installing sound-dampening materials.
“The city did a lot of work to alleviate concerns with the residents in that area,” Harp said.
Noise concerns also were raised about the Bonita Canyon plan.
To address them, the city hired Sound Media Fusion, a Van Nuys-based noise mitigation and management consulting firm, to conduct a sound study. In September, the company simulated pickleball playing at Bonita Canyon, using sound readings taken from San Joaquin Hills as a reference.
Sound Media Fusion concluded that for adjacent Port Streets homes, pickleball noise would not exceed decibel levels permitted under city code. The company added that the sound would be “masked” by traffic noise already emanating from busy MacArthur Boulevard.
City staff plans to finalize the court design early next year and start construction by summer. The City Council will need to approve the construction contract.
The council already approved the courts’ $500,000 budget as part of the city’s budget for fiscal 2016-17.
Twitter: @BradleyZint
