Berwick neighbors oppose construction of new pickleball courts
BERWICK (WGME) -- Berwick is planning to update its athletic fields this year with new basketball courts, a new playground and new outdoor pickleball courts.
The Berwick Select Board already approved two pickleball courts to be built near the basketball courts at Memorial Field, but some families who live nearby are hoping to reverse that decision.
It's taken the nation by storm, but outdoor pickleball courts can also come with complaints.
"If you go online and look up pickleball, you'll find across the country there are complaints about the noise," neighbor Susan Morse said.
Morse lives near the athletic field in Berwick, where the town plans to build two outdoor pickleball courts.
She's also spoken to people who live near the York Paddle Tennis and Pickleball Club.
"To hear that ping, ping, ping back and forth, they said it's torture,” Morse said. “One man sold his house who lives in the area in York. Another person no longer sits out in their yard, and these people live 800 to 1,000 to 1,300 feet away."
Town leaders say they're trying to improve the quality of Memorial Field for future generations, and pickleball is a sport residents say they're eager to try.
"More opportunities for the kids to get out and enjoy the fresh air and get some exercise, I think it's a good thing," Berwick resident Jeramiah Mulligan said. "If you're a neighbor of the area, if you live nearby, you know it's a rec field. You know those types of things are going to be going in there."
“We can hear the baseball games and the shouting and the playing,” Morse said. “All good stuff."
"Pickleball noise and baseball noise is a lot different,” neighbor Jarred Woods said. “An incessant clacking noise you here all the time."
Woods lives a block from where the pickleball courts would be built.
Berwick town leaders released a statement about the new courts.
"The courts will have sound dampening walls. Should any noise complaints be made when the courts are built, ordinances are in place to ensure they are handled appropriately."
However, Woods prefers putting the pickleball courts indoors.
"I'm not opposed to go back there and playing pickleball,” Woods said. “I just don't want to hear incessant clacking all day long."
This Tuesday, a group of neighbors opposing the pickleball courts plan to go before the town select board, hoping to reverse the decision. They plan to ask for a sound study before anything is built.
