PROVINCETOWN — Residents, visitors and property owners who are annoyed with the sound of pickleball playing on nearby public courts are now pitted against those who love to play the sport.

"They play pickleball all through the summer from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, and that noise is just driving us nuts," Provincetown resident Roger Secours said by phone at a June 13 Select Board meeting. 

There are outdoor pickleball courts on Nickerson Street in the West End, and in the center of town at Motta Field off Winslow Street and at the Veterans Memorial Community Center at 2 Mayflower Lane.

"I would like you to go home tonight and do a Google search on pickleball noise," Secours said. "Please [Google it] and you're going to find a bunch of articles about noise complaints and lawsuits all over the U.S. and Canada." 

Pickleball combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. The game is traditionally played with a solid wood paddle and a wiffle-like ball. The game can be played indoors and outdoors. The court is the same size as a doubles badminton court and the same court can be used for both singles and doubles, according to the USA Pickleball Association. 

Indeed there have been lawsuits filed in Newport Beach, California, Mission HillsKansas, Toronto, Canada, and a little closer to home, a failed cease-and-desist letter in Falmouth. 

Secours asked the Select Board to review the decisions made by the town Recreation Commission regarding the noise playing pickleball creates. 

There are some things to be considered, said Recreation Commission Chair Catherine Nagorski.

"In the future, in knowing that this has been a disruption, we would want to make sure the courts are not in a neighborhood where they could potentially be causing disruption to the neighbors," Nagorski said by phone. 

Some of the short-term goals of the Recreation Commission are addressing the neighbors and abutters bothered by the noise of the game. "We want to make sure that they are heard and that we can do anything we can to mitigate their concerns," Nagorski said.

Suggestions have been coming in. 

"We need to move the pickleball courts as far out to the outskirts of town as we possibly can," Select Board Vice-Chair John Golden said at the June 13 meeting. 

"Now on Facebook we have a group trying to set things up to make the sound muffled. Once we get people comfortable with their muffled sound proofing, they're not going to move out of the park on Nickerson," he said. 

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The pickleball-playing community has stepped in to offer relief by installing soundproofing panels. Only one of the courts has the barriers installed so far, the Nickerson Street courts. 

"The real heroes here are the members of the pickleball-playing community who took it upon themselves to work with the Recreation Commission," said Bill Docker, founder of Friends of Provincetown Parks and Gardens, by phone.

The Friends group's role in the pickleball back and forth is a fiduciary role, to assist the Recreation Commission in raising funds for any decided upon projects, Docker said. 

So far, the Friends Facebook page has raised $13,120 towards soundproofing the courts using Acoustiblok.

The Recreation Commission has agreed to match dollar-for-dollar up to $13,000 to install soundproofing panels at the three pickleball court locations in town. 

The Friends group's fundraiser page reached the $13,000 goal in seven days with donations from 52 people. 

Despite installing the soundproofing at the Nickerson Street courts, though, the Recreation Commission continues to receive noise complaints.

"The neighbors are still not happy with the noise," Nagorski said.

Sound proofing the courts was not something that was going to eliminate the noise completely. "This was aimed to reduce the noise," she said. 

The selection of the Nickerson Street area for the court was an inappropriate selection to begin with, said Secours.

"Their decisions have impacted our neighborhood," he said of the Recreation Commission. "Their decisions are actually impacting my mental and physical health."

Nagorski and the Recreation Commission were set to appear before the Select Board on Monday, June 27, to field questions from the board and the public. Town Recreation Director Brandon Motta was expected to appear at the meeting as well.

In the documents for the Select Board's June 27 meeting, Town Manager Alex Morse presented a pickleball timeline for the West End courts at Nickerson Street, beginning in 2019, as provided by Motta. 

"The demand for this sport exceeds the town's capability to continuously provide it at our recreational facilities," Motta stated in the Select Board materials. "Although you have heard very legitimate concerns from abutters, there is a very large group of pickleball players in Provincetown that need a place to play." 

The timeline presented by Morse is as follows: