Key Points:
• Parks and Recreation Director Rip Robertson said staff recommended not moving forward with the bid process at Tucker Recreation Center because of safety and liability issues.
• Tucker will still move forward with a public meeting about a sound mitigation study on Sept. 29 from 6-8 p.m. at city hall.
• The sound study found that expanding courts at Henderson Park would have the least impact on homeowners in the area.
In yet another surprise twist, the Tucker City Council at its Sept. 22 meeting voted 6-1 to kill the bid process for a 12-court pickleball complex at Tucker Recreation Center – but not for the reasons that have bitterly divided the community.
Mayor Frank Auman made the motion after the panel listened to a two-hour presentation made by representatives from Pickleball Sound Mitigation Consulting, who had been hired to do a study about the effects of pickleball noise at Henderson and Rosenfeld Parks, as well as the Tucker Recreation Center.
The study, among other recommendations, said the installation of 12- or 14-foot barriers around the TRC courts would effectively reduce sound levels emanating from courts to 52 decibels.
A surprise recommendation
After the presentation from PSMC’s Dale Van Scoyk and Braxton Boren, Tucker Parks and Recreation Director Rip Robertson told the council that “staff is recommending not moving forward with this project.”
“The PSM recommendation would eliminate any sidelines, creating a safety liability issue for the city,” Robertson said.
Auman clarified Robertson’s remarks, saying “even if sound mitigation was sufficient, the parks department doesn’t want it, at whatever price, for safety and liability issues,” which Robertson affirmed.
The measure passed 6-1, with Council Member Vinh Nguyen the lone dissenting vote.
Nguyen, who spoke after the presentation and before the vote, said he believed that the “safety situation is a little overblown.”
He also said while he respected the viewpoint of the Morgan Road neighbors, who have claimed the noise from the courts would disrupt their lives and well-being, he didn’t think that “it would have affected them.”
He also angered attendees after he asked the room to be silent for a minute, and then rapped his knuckles on a desk, and said “that is 50 decibels, [and the sound] once every couple of minutes – that’s what we are dealing with.”
Rebecca Gross, representing residents who opposed the complex, said the “6-1 vote to pull the directive, from the June 9 meeting to city manager, to put the May 2025 design out to bid was a critical and important step in healing the division caused by this controversial proposal.”
For that we are grateful. Tucker is grateful,” Gross said. “We look forward to Tucker meeting the growing demand for pickleball courts in a fiscally responsible manner that poses ZERO threat to the quality of life of any resident or our neighborhoods.”
Study: 12- to 14-foot sound barriers needed at TRC
In its 66-page report regarding the 12-court plan at the TRC, PSMC said if no barriers were put in place, “the raw pickleball sound emitted by the courts is predicted to exceed 60 dBA [decibels] at the northern residences, and to reach higher noise levels to the south.”
Related stories:
• Opinion: Tucker needs pickleball
• Tucker Council votes to open bids again for pickleball complex
• Letter to the Editor: We stand against the pickleball complex
“The 10’ northern barriers in the May 2025 plans would mitigate noise from some court positions but leave direct sound paths from other positions on the courts, particularly to the residential and commercial properties to the east, where noise levels are predicted to remain well above the target limit,” the report said.
Even erecting a 12-foot barrier, which would cut off sound to the east and west of the courts, sounds would still exceed the target limit of 52 decibels by 1-2 decibels.
The report recommended fully enclosing the east court with 12-foot barriers on all sides, increasing the height of the center court’s northern barrier to 14 feet, reducing the number of courts on the northern dual-use tennis court and rotating their orientation by 90 degrees. However, while the changes will reduce levels to the north and south, the report predicted it would increase levels to the east by six decibels.
Regarding Henderson Park, where the city is evaluating the conversion of four existing tennis courts into dual-use courts for both pickleball and tennis, the proposed area is located at least 300 feet from existing homes with no direct line of site from the courts to the homes.
“A buffer of mature trees and vegetation separates the residences from the racquet/paddle court area, which is situated 30’ to 75’ higher in elevation than the surrounding homes,” the study said.
The footprint area of four tennis courts would comfortably support play on up to 12 pickleball courts, while still keeping the tennis nets in place, it said.
“When adjusted for elevations, directionality factors, and other parameters, the modeling software predicts that maximum sound levels will be at or below the conservative target limit of 50 dBA without the addition of sound mitigation barriers or other attenuation measures for any or all of the planned courts,” the PSMC study said.
Consultants say Rosenfeld Park ‘not the best place’ for courts
In regard to the Rosenfeld Park, where renovations to four existing tennis courts are planned, there has been discussions about converting “the four tennis courts into three tennis courts and parking, plus consideration is being given to adding pickleball as a dual-use feature on these courts,” the report said.
The company’s sound assessment and resulting recommendations considered the non-summer months when a nearby pool would not be in use, which when busy, masks sounds coming from the courts.
Nearby homes to the proposed courts vary in distance from less than 100 feet to within 300 feet, with current pickleball play clearly audible in many backyards, the report said.
The site plan PSMC used for evaluation calls for one pickleball court on each side of the three tennis courts with six pickleball courts, aligned north-south.
Modeling results indicate that achieving compliance with the target sound level at
the second story of homes would necessitate a barrier height of approximately 22 feet, the report said. Increasing barrier height to 16 feet “likewise proved ineffective due to reflective sound paths propagating over the barriers.”
“Based on the findings, it is recommended that pickleball courts not be constructed in accordance with the current design,” the report said.
Van Scoyk said Rosenfeld Park, “to put it bluntly, is not the best place for pickleball.”
City will still hold public meeting Sept. 29
After the vote, Amy Trocchi thanked PSMC for providing “tone and perspective to an issue that has fractured our very good community.”
The possibility of a future pickleball complex, however, is still on the table, possibly at another venue. Officials will hold a public information meeting at city hall Sept. 29 from 6-8 p.m. where representatives from PSMC will be on hand to answer questions from attendees.
Auman said the city will continue to seek solutions to address “a great demand for pickleball” at a city-owned park or another venue.
Gross said the anti-pickleball group and other Tucker residents have questioned “why it has taken all of this division and controversy to convince you that installing 12 pickleball courts so close – in some cases less than 100 feet – from our homes might not be such a good idea? Especially considering the fact that the recommended extensive sound mitigation measures would significantly drive up the initial cost?”