Some residents still miffed about outdoor pickleball courts

When Niagara-on-the-Lake council votes tonight to accept the minutes of the April 16 committee of the whole general meeting, that action will officially pave the way for the reopening of the outdoor pickleball courts in Virgil. 

That doesn’t sit well for at least one resident in the nearby Lambert’s Walk condominium complex. 

The resident spoke to The Local under the condition of anonymity because of the public treatment faced by Oana Scafesi, the Lambert’s Walk resident who filed with Ontario Provincial Court in 2022 seeking an injunction to pickleball play on the public courts. 

“I don’t want to go through what she went through,” said the resident. “She took a lot of flack, she even received death threats. Any time she went anywhere people were just horrible to her. That was totally unfair.”

The courts were ordered closed for two years by Justice of the Peace Mary Shelly in June 2022. Shelly found that the decibel levels from pickleball play violated Niagara-on-the-Lake’s noise bylaw. The decision gathered negative attention across North America through social media posts and news coverage. 

Since then, the town has amended the bylaw to include an exemption for recreational activities on town property from the bylaw. With the ban about to end on June 15, the town plans to reopen the courts with sound barriers designed to reflect the noise of the paddle hitting the ball back toward the open field and away from the residential area. They also plan to reduce the hours of play, closing the courts at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 8:30 p.m. on weekends.

“I suffer from a lot of health problems,” said the resident. “I get migraines, I have fibromyalgia and arthritis. I sleep with my window open and it looks right at the courts. This is probably going to cause me to move.”

The resident suggests that many of the others who live in Lambert’s Walk feel the same way but also fear attracting the same public censure thrown at Scafesi two years ago. Scafesi declined to comment for this story. 

There is also some consternation that town staff or councillors did not make an effort to hear the concerns of the condominium’s residents before pushing through the staff report at the April 16 meeting. 

“Nobody heard anything, they didn’t knock on our doors,” said the resident.” When I called the Town I didn’t get a call back from anyone. Sandra O’Connor and a couple of other councillors called me back. I think the Town should have sent a letter out to us, at least. That would have been more professional.”

Two weeks ago O’Connor was the sole dissenter when the vote was taken to receive staff’s recommendation to reopen the courts at the committee of the whole. The sticking point for the councillor was the lack of direct communication with the nearby residents. O’Connor supported the reopening but wanted to have a chance for some form of communication between the Town and the nearby residents before that happened. 

“With all the contention there it would have been a nice gesture to hold a meeting with those residents,” O’Connor told The Local Monday afternoon. “Just to get some feedback, to listen to their concerns.”

Ironically, with NOTL town hall just a short walk from the condominium complex, a meeting with the residents would have been simple to arrange. 

Another NOTL homeowner who does not live in Virgil is adamant that the plight of those near the public courts and the Town’s seeming unwillingness to listen to their concerns could have widespread repercussions in NOTL. 

“Refusing to listen to the many residents who lived in their present locations for many years before the invention of pickleball is disturbing,” said that homeowner, who also asked not to be identified.