Pickleball’s explosive growth is fueling conflict in Palm Beach County neighborhoods, where homeowners are suing their associations, organizing recalls and battling over plans to expand courts near their homes.
Residents in two gated communities have filed lawsuits over pickleball noise, while those in a third community are trying to recall board members who approved plans to convert a tennis court into four pickleball courts..
Homeowners say the sport’s distinctive and loud “pop” noise is disrupting their quality of life while HOAs say they are responding to overwhelming demand for courts and access to play what has been described as America’s fastest-growing sport.
The first pickleball-noise lawsuit in the county, reported by The Palm Beach Post earlier this year, was filed against Parkside at Boca Trail in Boca Raton.
Plaintiff Richard Kitt, who lives about 70 feet from the courts, says the sound is so intrusive that “it is like they are playing in my kitchen.” According to court filings, the HOA’s own acoustical study found pickleball noise exceeded Boca Raton’s daytime limits.
The Parkside lawsuit is expected to go trial in September. It could set a statewide precedent.
While the homeowner association at Parkside Trail at Boca Raton has declined to comment on the lawsuit filed against it, the HOA claims in court filings that it is permitted to change the makeup of its recreation center, noting residents were well aware that they purchased a home adjacent to the recreation complex, and that some day its makeup could change.
How late is too late for pickleball court noise?
More recently, homeowners at Polo Trace, west of Delray Beach, filed a lawsuit to stop pickleball play. Keith Grumer, a Weston-based attorney, represents homeowners at both Boca Raton communities.
“What is unusual about Polo Trace is that they opened their courts for use to the public,” said Grumer. “As a result, play is constant and can occur as late as 11 p.m. They (the board) did this without a community vote.”
At Polo Trace, the four pickleball courts are within 100 feet of homes. And the HOA is looking to take away a tennis court to add four more pickleball courts. All of the courts are too close to homes, according to the lawsuit, which says that the board failed to conduct a study to determine if the noise from play is a nuisance.
One Polo Trace resident, who asked not to be identified, said play sometimes starts at the crack of dawn. The homeowner said he and his family have been harassed and accosted by pickleball players who support the addition of the four more courts.
Efforts to obtain comment from the HOA at Polo Trace were unsuccessful. But in an email to residents in May, the HOA reported that the lawsuit “may affect the anticipated timeline” for the conversion of the tennis court into four pickleball courts.
Doug Fight plays pickleball several times a week at Polo Trace. He called the lawsuit “frivolous.” He said there is a clear demand for the additional courts.
Meanwhile, Grumer said pickleball noise has become a specialty of his law practice. “I’m getting calls all the time from folks who say pickleball noise affects their quality of life. This is all becoming, unfortunately, very ugly.”
Kitt said the noise issue has split apart the community at Parkside. Since the lawsuit was filed, he said he has been harassed and some residents who were his friends no longer speak with him.
At Crescent Lakes, Monika Mazgal is leading a recall movement to remove board members who approved a contract to convert tennis courts into pickleball courts. She, too, has consulted with Grumer but says at this point she cannot afford to sustain the litigation costs.
“We have more than 100 signatures of people opposed to what the board wants to do,” Mazgal said. “That is about half the community. Still, they seem to want go ahead with it despite the widespread opposition.”
The Crescent Lakes Homeowner Association notified residents a year ago that it would be closing the community’s two har-tru tennis courts because they were too expensive to maintain. Four pickleball courts would be built to accommodate the demand for the game.
Mazgal says some of the pickleball courts will be within 10 feet of her home. She argues that the community should have been given the opportunity to vote on the issue. Efforts to obtain comment from Crescent Lakes were unsuccessful.
Residents opposed to the Crescent Lakes’ project protested during a meeting on July 7, calling for the board to reverse its decision and for three board members to resign. After hearing out residents for more than an hour, Mazgal claims the board abruptly ended the meeting without responding to residents’ comments.
“They (the board) won’t listen to people like me who live four steps from the courts. There is no plan to install sound barriers or perform sound testing,” Mazgal said. “Homeowners are being forced to financially underwrite the destruction of their own community amenities.”
The Mor-Sports Group, based in Estero, Fla., builds pickleball courts across the state. On its website, though, it warns HOAs to be aware of “the science behind pickleball noise” to protect their communities from costly disputes.
“The noise difference between pickleball and tennis isn’t subjective,” said the company on its website. Pickleball generates approximately 70 decibels compared to tennis at 40-45 decibels, making it significantly louder than the sport it’s often replacing on community courts, the company added.
In both lawsuits in Boca Raton, Grumer is seeking temporary injunctions to stop pickleball play while the case proceeds to trial. Lawsuits challenging pickleball noise have also been filed in Naples and another in Hillsborough County in Apollo Beach, where residents compared the sound to “a pneumatic nail gun on a roof.”
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County pickleball boom sparks lawsuits, recall fights
Reporting by Mike Diamond, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mike Diamond, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
