Pickleball Noise Prompts Vienna Town Council To Limit Hours At Park

VIENNA, VA — Vienna officials were in a pickle as they fielded noise complaints about pickleball, a sport growing in popularity.

But Vienna Town Council approved a compromise by limiting pickleball hours to certain times and days of the week at Glyndon Park, the town's only outdoor pickleball court location.

Under the 5-2 approval, Glyndon Park pickleball hours from March 1 through Nov. 30 will be 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Pickleball hours from Dec. 1 through the end of February will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

All other hours not specified will be for tennis only at Glyndon Park.

"This is a rapidly growing game," said Councilmember Chuck Anderson, who introduced the motion. "It's very popular, but it also has a noise issue, and it's something that I think we need to work on and manage."

Mayor Linda Colbert and Councilembmer Ed Somers voted against the motion. A failed motion by Somers would have set pickleball hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, eliminating pickleball hours on Friday. Councilmember Nisha Patel noted the motion from Somers only had one less hour than Anderson's motion, albeit with longer hours over less days.

Leslie Herman, director of parks and recreation for the Town of Vienna, said there have been numerous complaints about pickleball at Glyndon Park. Herman said staff have already taken actions to address complaints, including using a reservation system for the courts, restricting open play for tennis and pickleball to certain times and encouraging overflow parking in the baseball field's upper lot.

But with continued complaints about noise, residents sought pickleball to be banned from the park. After further discussions, residents supported a compromise of three days for pickleball instead of seven.

"The most recent complaint from the Glendon Park neighbors is the noise from the pickleball has ruined the livability of their neighborhood and significantly decreased the value of their homes," said Herman.

In a survey of pickleball players with 89 responses, the majority supported a scheduling system on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The motion approved by Town Council included a section from Somers' motion encouraging use of quieter pickleball paddles from a suggested list provided by parks and recreation.

"It's not something that we're going to be enforcing," said Somers. "But I've been informed that a number of players already used the quiet paddles there."

There are also indoor pickleball courts at the Vienna Community Center. Multiple council members expressed interest in seeking more locations for pickleball within the town.

"We're going to start researching more on the cost, how much is it going to cost to do this, what's going on at Meadow Lane, is that an appropriate place to put some courts?" said Colbert. "So even whatever happens tonight may not be the only hours that pickleball players in Vienna are going to be able to play. We're actively thinking how can we help the pickleball community in this room and future pickleball players."

Patel asked parks and recreation to look into a pickleball court location at Southside Park, which she said could have pickleball noise mitigated sounds from Interstate 66. Herman said that will be part of the town's park study.