'Shrill' noise from Chilliwack pickleball courts forces neighbour to leave city for the summer

Harpreet Dhawan says the noise coming from a pickleball court just a few metres away from her Chilliwack, B.C., home is tearing her family apart. 

Dhawan lives near Kinsmen Park, home to several pickleball courts. 

She said the noise that comes from the sport is unbearable, and has forced her husband, who often works from home, to relocate to India for the summer to get away from it. 

"They're just breaking my family."

The noise, she said, is "constant" and "shrill."

"I can't even sit in my house with a closed window. The whole summer when there was a heat wave going on, we had to sit inside with a closed window ... because of the pickleball court."

Her neighbour, Gurpreet Junja, agrees that the noise is excessive. 

"My house is a little bit back [from the courts], so I still hear the noise because my bedroom is here, my parents live with me and they still hear the noise of the ball and racket, tick tock, tick tock all the time," he said.

Solutions proposed

The Dhawans moved into their home in 2017. The courts were built in 2018, and their surfaces were upgraded in 2021.

The couple tried playing pickleball once, but said the noise was too much.

Dhawan and her husband have brought their concerns to the local pickleball club and to the City of Chilliwack, but haven't been satisfied with solutions proposed. 

Kirstin Stuart, a member of the Chilliwack Pickleball Club and who lives nearby, said she went to the Dhawan's home to offer suggestions on how pickleball could continue with minimal disruption, including offering to have Dhawan's husband's workspace soundproofed.

Dhawan said that would mean her husband would be a prisoner in one room of the house. 

She added that another person suggested they sell their home and leave the area, and even offered to pay the realtor fees. 

"How dare you? I love my house. Look at how beautiful it is. That's why I bought this house and I love it."

The hours players can access the court have been limited to 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Recently, players were also notified that after 4 p.m., they had to use a foam ball.

But Stuart said there's no such thing. 

"There isn't a foam ball that we use for pickleball," she said.  "So we're just playing with our softest plastic."

In an email to CBC, Chilliwack Pickleball Club president Lyle Simpson said he has asked members to limit their use of those particular courts. 

"However, I have no control over what the public or club members do when they are not at our club facility," he wrote. 

Lack of consultation

Dhawan is concerned that the city never engaged with neighbours when it decided to install the courts a few years ago. 

Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove confirmed there was no consultation, because that's not something the city typically does when it comes to parks. 

However, he said a new facility for racket sports is in the works, one that is not in a residential area and that he expects to be complete next year. 

When it's done, the courts near Dhawan's home will be shut down. 

"I apologize to the neighbourhood," he said. 

"There is a light at the end of the tunnel. They will get their peace back."