A new compromise was reached by Marblehead pickleballers, neighbors of the Veterans School courts and the Recreation and Parks Commission at a meeting on Feb. 28 that allows the pickleballers to play with their own nets at the Seaside courts until March 17, when all town courts will open with nets. The Veterans courts will remain locked until March 17.
“This will give the neighbors two more weeks of peace,” said Rec and Parks Commissioner Linda Rice-Collins. “I’m so pleased that this is not confrontational. I want us all to work together.”
At a Feb. 7 meeting, Rec and Parks agreed to open the Veterans courts (closed since mid-January) for players who bring their own nets. Inclement weather kept the courts closed, however. Rec and Parks declined to put up the town’s nets, saying that the year-round pressure on the posts that hold the nets could damage the courts.
Maura Dartley-Rocco, who lives near the Veterans courts on Vine Street, spoke to the commission on Feb. 28, handing out binders filled with maps, articles and reports on the impact of pickleball noise.
CURRENT PHOTO: LEIGH BLANDER
“Within 100 feet of a court, the sound measures 70 decibels,” she said. “That’s comparable to highway traffic.” She went on to say that the noise can cause flight or flight responses in people nearby, leading to “diagnosable disorders” like anxiety, and adversely impact the cardiovascular system.
“This is absolutely happening. If this is a science experiment, we are the lab rats,” she said. “We feel, as neighbors, that this is a crisis situation.”
Dartley-Rocco suggested several sound mediation options, including planting arbor vitae trees around the courts or draping so-called sound blankets around the perimeter. Rice-Collins said the school superintendent opposed the blankets because they block a clear view of students, which is a safety concern.
Another possibility discussed: attaching a sound blanket to the wall of the school, where pickleball noise reverberates and echoes back to the neighborhood.
Rec and Parks Commissioner Karin Ernst is speaking with an acoustics expert in Easton who works with communities to mediate pickleball noise and will invite him out to assess options at Vine Street.
Rice-Collins pointed out that there are new pickleballs and paddles that are quieter and she encouraged the players to switch to those.
“This needs to be a team effort, so we can all exist together,” she said.
Rich Newburg, representing the group Marblehead Pickleball, said “95% of pickleballers don’t have” that equipment yet and probably won’t until it’s more readily available.
Newburg added that Marblehead Pickleball is “happy to hear solutions. We’re well-organized, vocal, maybe a little too vocal, and we do have funds.” He suggested the group would be willing to help fund sound mitigation efforts.
“All we want to do is play pickleball without pissing anybody off,” Newburg said.
Adding to the spirit of goodwill in the room, Dartley-Rocco said, “We’re just looking for some neighborhood harmony.”
Editor Leigh Blander is an experienced TV, radio and print journalist.