Resistance to pickleball, the nation’s fastest-growing sport, may be spilling into people’s backyards as the Marin County town of Ross considers limits on private courts.
Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle
America’s recent passion for pickleball has generated some high-profile friction on public courts, including in the Bay Area — but now pushback against the nation’s fastest-growing sport may be spilling into people’s backyards.
Fearing the constant thwack of paddles against plastic balls, a wealthy Marin County town is considering banning or regulating pickleball courts at private homes.
While tensions have arisen in San Francisco over access to public courts and various neighbor complaints about them, including noise, the Ross Town Council at its Sept. 12 meeting focused on the potential for private courts to generate high-decibel disturbances.
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The sport can generate 70 decibels of sharp, repetitive sound called “impulsive” noise within 100 feet of a court — twice as loud as tennis, according to Barry Wyerman of Pickleball Sound Mitigation, a consulting firm often cited as an authority on the topic. He suggests a maximum standard of 50 impulsive decibels, as measured at the property line.
So far, it appears no homes in Ross have installed private courts specifically for pickleball and there have been no noise complaints, according to town staff. If a ban or regulations are adopted, Ross would likely be among the first Bay Area cities to rein in private courts.
The town of Ross in Marin County is considering regulating pickleball courts at private residences.
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The noise issue was first raised in Ross last spring by Mayor Pro Tem Julie McMillan and Council Member Elizabeth Robbins, who requested that staff review the need for regulations for construction of private pickleball courts “and the potential noise disturbances they create,” according to a town staff report.
“Obviously the noise is the big problem” being raised in Ross, said Council Member Mathew Salter at the meeting this month.
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According to the staff report, satellite imagery of Ross shows that there are 11 tennis courts, seven basketball courts and three smaller sport courts at homes in Ross. Tennis courts can be converted to pickleball courts with two fitting in the same space, offering the potential of twice the sound of plastic meeting graphite or fiberglass.
“The noise resulting from a game of pickleball travels at a higher frequency and sound level than tennis, potentially making it more irritating to listeners,” the staff report said.
According to the report, other Bay Area towns such as Mill Valley, San Anselmo, Hillsborough, Los Altos, Berkeley and Atherton do not require use permits for the construction of residential pickleball courts. In 2022, the Marin County town of Tiburon passed legislation requiring a sound study be done in advance of a permit being issued for construction of a residential pickleball court.
USA Pickleball, the governing body for the sport, has introduced a set of noise reduction standards for paddles and balls.
Laura Morton/Special to the Chronicle
The Ross staff report also noted that sound studies suggest that a pickleball court must be at least 250 feet from the nearest property to satisfy an existing town regulation that limits noise to 55 decibels as a standard neighborhood requirement.
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No specific proposals to legislate pickleball on private property in Ross have been made.
“I don’t want to ban it when there are other solutions,” Salter said, noting that there are quieter paddles and balls on the market that could mitigate the noise.
Reached Monday, McMillan and Robbins both deferred comment to Mayor Bill Kircher, who said that the council is still in an informational mode.
The issue was continued to the council’s October meeting so that staff can gather more information before any specific proposals for action are made.
“Should the Council decide that some form of regulation is warranted, then staff will draft specific measures for the Council to consider at a future meeting that is consistent with the Council’s direction and guidance,” Kircher said in an email.
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In continuing the pickleball debate until the Oct. 10 meeting, Salter said he hoped to hear from more town residents about the issue.
“My stance is I want more input from the public,” he said, “and more information about quieter paddles and balls.”
According to Wyerman of Pickleball Sound Mitigation, most municipal ordinances nationwide are insufficient to deal with pickleball noise, which he said “can become a very serious issue.’’
“I can see people putting lights on their courts and you could have pickleball going past 10 at night,” he said.
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Pickleball courts should only be allowed at residences that are 1,000 feet from the nearest neighbor, unless sound barriers are installed and quieter paddles and balls are used, he said.
As pickleball paddles hit plastic balls, the noise can generate 70 decibels of sharp, repetitive sound called “impulsive” noise within 100 feet of a court — twice as loud as tennis, according to one expert.
Mike Kepka/The Chronicle 2008
USA Pickleball, the governing body for the sport, has already introduced a set of noise reduction standards for paddles and balls.
Alister Sun, owner and general contractor of Center Court Sports in Alameda, said he has been installing courts Bay Area-wide for seven years and that no town in the region has so far adopted a specific pickleball court regulation like the ones being considered in Ross.
But he said all cities with lots large enough to accommodate residential sports courts have regulations regarding tennis and basketball courts that would also apply to pickleball courts, usually involving setback requirements from the property line.
He said he recently lost a customer in the San Mateo County town of Atherton who placed an anonymous call to that town’s planning department and was scared off the project after learning about requirements on sport courts in general — though he added that was an outlier. City Manager George Rodericks did not respond to a request for comment.
“I know of people who are putting in pickleball courts at their homes, and there is absolutely no ordinance to stop them,” said Rick DeGolia, who serves on the Atherton council.
DeGolia, who is not a pickleball player himself, said existing requirements for setbacks should be sufficient.
“Some people are putting them in their driveways,” DeGolia said. “As long as they get a permit and are not putting it within the setback they are going to be approved.”
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