As pickleball fever swept the nation, patience with the game’s obnoxious, unceasing sounds quickly wore thin. Communities soon found themselves in open rebellion against the craze, doing everything in their power to ban the sport so they could reclaim some semblance of peace in their neighborhoods. One California city might become the first in the nation’s most populous state to outright ban the sport.
The obscenely wealthy town of Carmel-by-the-Sea is on track to become the first city in California to permanently ban pickleball, according to SFGate.
The war on pickleball is being fought in a spot that sounds like it could be the name of an actual war battle, Forest Hill Park, home to Carmel’s only pickleball court. Residents say the sport’s signature pop-pop-pop ricochets through windows and gardens, tormenting anyone within earshot.
One resident told the City Council she could hear games from her bedroom and didn’t understand why local government was “placating the tourists and the pickleball players, when you’re supposed to be working for us.”
For two years, city officials tried to broker peace between the pickleballers and annoyed residents. They tried all sorts of things, like limiting hours, requiring softer paddles and quieter balls in the hope that people would voluntarily play by the rules. No dice. Nothing seemed to work. No compromise could be struck that made all sides happy, or at the very least, stuck with an unhappiness they could live with.
Council enacted a temporary ban in October, and neighbors soon reported a glorious return to peace and quiet. Now that they have a taste of serenity, they don’t want to give it up. They took an inch, and now they want the whole mile.
The City Council has not been swayed by some pickleballers insisting that the local pickleball community will use quieter equipment, arguing that enforcement of new rules would be too complicated.
Pickleball lovers will get two chances to appeal. But for now, the town is enjoying the silence.
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