Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 12/18/2023
AMHERST — The conversations over proposed pickleball courts at Kiwanis Park continued into the Dec. 4 Recreation Commission meeting at which calls for reconsiderations of the proposed sites were raised.
Recreation Director Rey Harp said the Misty Meadows Property Association in South Amherst which opposes the plans for pickleball court construction in the park, conducted research in response to the commission’s site plan and CPA proposal for the courts.
“They brought up a number of very relevant, very important arguments about the nature of the pickleball sport and its impact on neighborhood and community and they wanted to try and make sure their voice was heard in that process, so it didn’t end up right on top of them,” Harp said.
Harp said they met with the association to outline their plans and the proposal they would be presenting to the CPA.
“I believe that both sides considered that to be a relatively productive conversation,” Harp said.
Harp informed the commission that on behalf of the town, they agreed to go back to the drawing board and look at some of the options to make sure the project would be situated in the right space.
Commission member Matt Cain asked about what called the associations principal concern which is that the pickleball courts as planned for Kiwanis Park would be too close to the adjoining neighborhood.
“Aside from one house which is 240 or so feet, the second closest house is over 300 feet away and I’m struggling with that being too close,” he said.
Cain also questioned where the information into the standards for what constitutes proper proximity originated.
“Their [the association] ‘too close’ argument seems to be based on one source, which is some blogger who wrote an article saying pickleball decreases property values and he, as far as I can tell just made up numbers about how close was too close,” he said.
Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek responded and said Cain’s characterization was not necessarily complete. He also noted that members of the community, abutters and neighbors to Kiwanis Park were present in the meeting audience.
“I think we should acknowledge that it is more than just bloggers,” he said. “There are a number of pickleball, there are a number of communities in Massachusetts who are grappling with this very same issue, who have built pickleball courts and discovered that noise caused by the paddles hitting the ball can be quite disrupting to residents.”
Redirecting, Cain said he thought if 300 feet was too close there was like to be trouble found anywhere in town.
Assistant DPW Superintendent Amy Rusiecki said there many issues to consider including the potential impact pickleball courts would have on other sports played on adjacent fields.
“Somethings going to be compromised,” she said.
Ziomek acknowledged there were no easy answers.
During further talks, recommendation for a sound study of the area were raised, something Cain said might help what constituted ‘too close” and how the Kiwanis Park location was selected. Ziomek said among the factors for consideration were the presence of existing parking, the fact that the park area was underutilized much of the year and cost.
“This is probably the least expensive place that we can build new pickleball courts,” he said. “Not refurbish old courts or anything like that.”
During public comment, Willow Lane resident Ryan Harb, who has spoken out against the Kiwanis site but said he is not opposed to court construction in town, shared research and examples of pickleball impacts in other parts of the state and also data on best practices for public courts which recommends a minimum distance of 500 feet from residential areas.
In response to Harb’s presentation, Cain said that if other communities are observing the greater distance that should be considered by the commission.
The commission, which serves as an advisory panel has no decision-making authority and provides recommendations to the recreation department and the town.
Ziomek did say options including a sound study at the present site location, consideration of moving the court location to another area of the park as well as looking at alternative locations were possible.
The commission agreed that additional meetings with community members would be necessary before any further decisions could be made.