CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Pickleball is booming in popularity across the nation, including here in Colorado, but one local town doesn't like the sound of new courts coming to the area without first looking into the potential impacts it could cause.
Denver7 spoke with neighbors who live near pickleball courts as well as city leaders to find out what's behind the controversy.
The City of Centennial says it is considering a moratorium that would temporarily ban pickleball courts within 500 feet of homes.
"The reason being is, the city realized we don't have any pickleball regulations in place," said Allison Wittern, Director of Communications for the City of Centennial, "Really, this moratorium would provide time for us to learn a bit more about the impacts. We just really want to look into a bit more of the impacts and to put some regulations in place if we need to, and really just take care of our neighborhoods."
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City leaders will take a final vote on Mar. 21, if the moratorium passes it would be in effect until Sept. 30.
Wittern says during those six months, the city will have acoustical engineers look at the different levels of noise when it comes to pickleball.
"I think that we'll look into everything we can," she said. "And we'll go back and look at what some of the complaints have been throughout the nation."
Denver7 spoke with neighbors who live right next to the Apex Pickleball Courts in Arvada.
"For the most part, everybody's upbeat, and it's kind of exciting," said Bill Kemper, who has lived right by the courts for years. "It's kind of like background noise, we've come to get used to it."
Kemper adds that he and his family often times enjoy watching the games from their back patio and on occasion have also joined in to play.
"We like having it over here. We like the activity," said Kemper. "Sometimes in the summer, it's a little bit difficult when your windows are open, and maybe you're going to bed early. But other than that we really haven't been affected."
He said his family was already aware of the courts when they moved in, so he understands how new developments could be a concern to some.
"If the issue is that they're going to add courts in an area where there's already existing houses and people already live there, I think there is an issue," but he said for his family, the positive impacts have outweighed any negatives. "We like it out here, we like the activity."
A spokesperson for both the city of Arvada and Apex Pickleball Courts said they have not received any noise complaints from residents in the area.
