Niagara-on-the-Lake outdoor pickleball enthusiasts may have to wait more than a month longer than expected to return to the open-air courts in Virgil.
At last Tuesday’s committee-of-the-whole meeting Coun. Sandra O’Connor put forward a notice of motion to push back the reopening of the six outdoor courts at the Virgil sports complex. She is concerned about a delay in the expected arrival and installation of the sound barriers that are expected to decrease the noise level for nearby residents.
A two-year court-ordered ban on outdoor play lapses on June 15. The ban was enacted in 2022 after Oana Scafesi, a resident of the neighbouring Lambert’s Walk condominium complex, filed a noise complaint and took the matter to Provincial Court in Welland. The town lost the case and was fined $1,000, as was the NOTL Pickleball Club.
The pickleball courts are scheduled to reopen on June 17, according to a town press release dated May 11. Council previously approved a reopening plan that includes reduced hours of play and the installation of noise barriers on two sides of the court facing the complex.
But O’Connor says town staff have told her the barriers may not arrive and be installed until at least a month after that date.
“Now I understand that the acoustic panelling will not be done until mid-to late-July, way after what we were told was going to happen,” O’Connor said at the meeting. “This is why I would like to reopen it and review the timing of things.”
O’Connor would like to see the acoustic panels installed before anybody gets back onto the courts to play pickleball.
In a staff report on the reopening plan, provisions included a transfer of $10,000 from the capital reserve to a capital project to purchase the acoustic panels contingent upon the outcome of an Ontario Trillium Grant Application.
Though she hasn’t been given a reason by town staff for the delay, O’Connor suspects it may have something to do with the progress of that Trillium Grant application. O’Connor says the town will not know the results of their application until mid-July.
“That’s the problem, and that wasn’t explained to council,” lamented O’Connor in an interview with The Local.
When The Local contacted John Hindle, president of the NOTL Pickleball Club, he hadn’t yet heard that the acoustic panels would not be ready for the June 17 target date.
“We have not been informed of the delay,” Hindle said. “If there is a delay, my guess is that they haven’t heard anything about the Trillium Grant they have applied for.”
In a previous interview with Hindle back in April, he told The Local that the club had offered to help pay for the installation of the sound barriers as the town awaited word on that grant application
In fact, the club is organizing a tournament for 100 players at Central Community Centre on May 31 and June 1, with $10 from each registration to be allocated directly toward the expense of the potential sound barriers, according to an email sent to all club members.
Besides Central and the NOTL Community Centre on Anderson Lane, the pickleball club has been using Centennial Arena as one of its sites for its nearly 600 members. That arrangement was expected to be temporary until the outdoor courts were ready. There is speculation, too, that other local groups are hoping to use the arena once pickleball moves out.
The Local contacted the town’s parks and recreation staff to ask for confirmation on the delay of the acoustic panels. the reason for the delay, the approximate date they may be ready, and the status of the Trillium Grant application.
An email response was received from the town’s communication staff. It stated that “Staff are currently investigating what options exist to have the pickleball courts open with the panels in place. Staff expect to have an update about the town’s outdoor pickleball courts for the May 28, 2024, council meeting.”
O’Connor, meanwhile, holds faint hope that she will be able to discuss the situation with her colleagues.
“I don’t know if council will allow me to reopen this,” O’Connor said. “It will need a two-thirds vote to even discuss it. The approval of the opening of the pickleball courts was done at a council meeting (April 30). They may not allow me to discuss it at a committee of the whole meeting. They may make me wait until the next council meeting.”