City council is not only looking for a progress update on the new Beban Park pickleball courts, but for different ways on how to dampen the noise at an existing court before the Beban Park opening.
City staff were directed to do so following a motion by Coun. Janice Perrino at the Monday, May 27, council meeting.
The courts at Beaufort Park have been a bone of contention for area residents due to the noise made by the balls and paddles used to play the game.
Efforts have been made to give residents some relief, which included closing the Beaufort pickleball courts over Easter weekend in March, as well as temporarily in December.
Council also voted in December to add $518,000 to the 2024 budget to build eight new pickleball courts in Beban Park. Aside from Beaufort Park, Nanaimo has pickleball courts at Beban, Departure Bay Centennial and May Richards Bennett Pioneer parks.
“I think one thing that we have learned is that tennis and pickleball need to have two different type courts and pickleball … needs to be far away from any kind of residential development,” Perrino said. “This is important because we were the ones who agreed to move this to Beaufort Park and it’s been very difficult for the neighbourhood who have to deal with it and they deal with it every day.”
Richard Harding, deputy chief administrative officer and general manager of community services, said Nanaimo finds itself in a situation other communities have had to wrestle with.
“Some areas have closed their courts – Victoria has closed their courts in Saanich – other municipalities are requiring a softer ball and padded paddles,” he said.
As for the new pickleball courts at Beban Park, Harding expects the work tender to go out by the first week of June with the courts to be built over the summer.
Coun. Erin Hemmens asked Harding if staff were comfortable with considering mediation for one court or if the city should consider mediation for all pickleball courts.
Coun. Ian Thorpe said he was opposed to the motion since Harding had effectively given a progress update on the Beban Park project during the meeting, and that any noise mediation report would focus only on one pickleball location.
“I really struggle with identifying one particular location,” he said. “If it was a more general motion or request then I would probably quite easily support it, but I don’t think I can in this format.”
Coun. Hilary Eastmure countered and said there have already been two holiday closures of the Beaufort courts made by decisions “on the fly” without any formal process for making those decisions.
“If this is an opportunity to frame the decision making process for that, then I think this is a good step,” she said.
The motion passed with Thorpe in opposition.
In a separate interview, Charlotte Davis, manager of parks operations, confirmed a request for proposals had been put out for the project in early April.
“We have selected a proponent and we’re just working with them right now to get all the documents in place,” Davis said. “We can’t say who that is until we get all that in, but we have looked at their construction schedule … I think that we’ll have the new courts in by the end of September … and what we’ve been really clear about with the community is that we’ll be looking to transition pickleball out of Beaufort once those new courts are in.”
Davis said the city did a survey to find out what activities people would like to have at Beaufort Park and other courts and staff were following up on that information.
“It might be that we transition back to tennis at Beaufort or some other kind of multi-use, like maybe some basketball or … it may be an opportunity for something new,” Davis said.
Davis said Beaufort Park isn’t the only location the city gets complaints about, but the courts there are unique in the city because there are six courts there that are much closer to residences and are more popular than any of the city’s other pickleball courts.
“It isn’t the only location we get complaints about, but I think it’s the only location where we’d consider a closure because the noise really is compounded by that trifecta of issues there,” she said.
The new pickleball courts in Beban Park will be located near the pitch and put golf course.
READ MORE: Nanaimo neighbourhood’s pickleball courts will be closed for quiet Easter weekend
