Months after a city-commissioned noise study recommended measures to reduce noise levels at Kiwanis Park pickleball courts, Battle Ground officials are still evaluating options as residents await an update.
The analysis, conducted by Michael Minor & Associates, found that noise from the six-court complex regularly exceeded recommended levels for nearby homes, with peak sounds reaching 90 decibels. The study compared noise to Washington state Administrative Code standards, which set a maximum allowable average noise level of 55 decibels for residential properties adjacent to parks. The report suggested installing acoustic curtains and sealing gaps around the structure to bring sound levels into compliance with Washington state guidelines.
Since then, the city has explored those recommendations, but progress has slowed as feasibility questions emerged.
“Now, if you're talking about doing anything to the structure itself that adds yet another layer, which (needs) a structural engineer,” Communications Manager Alisha Smith said. “We did take that proposal to a structural engineer who did come back and say that, based on the weight and the wind load that (the) sound curtain would have brought upon the facility, it would not have been advisable for the structure.”
With the curtain option ruled out, the city has shifted to other potential fixes. A new structural report received by the city last week evaluates the feasibility of installing an additional sound wall behind the existing barrier to better contain noise. City staff is reviewing that proposal to determine whether it meets code requirements.
“So they're looking at that right now to see if that's something that can be done,” Smith said. “Our next phase with that would be then determining the cost estimate for such a structure, and then, of course, that's something that would have to go before the city council.”
Though the effort to find solutions has been ongoing, some neighbors say the pace has been frustrating. In previous The Reflector articles, several neighbors have said the loud crack of pickleball play, amplified by the courts’ metal roof, has disturbed daily life since the complex opened in July.
“Nothing's been done,” Greg West, who lives in a house directly south of the courts' sound wall, said. “That noise report was done (in) October, I believe they got a copy of it probably in November. And absolutely nothing's been done to accommodate anybody in the neighborhood to get the noise under control from the pickleball court.”
West and others have previously reported activity at the courts continuing well past posted hours of 9 a.m. That hasn’t gotten better, apparently, as an incident on Sunday, April 26, showed.
“The facility lights had already gone off, which is a signal that it's time to go home, but here's this group of 10 people who showed up with their portable light units, they were gonna start playing pickleball,” West said. “I went over there, and I said, ‘Hey guys… This shuts down at 9 o'clock, and they didn't want to hear anything about it, so I had to call the police, and the police showed up and ran him out of there.”
West said those types of incidents, while less frequent in winter, still occur regularly enough to be a concern, with neighbors often calling police when players stay out late into the night.
West says the issue is complicated by how municipal noise rules apply to the pickleball courts. Under city code Chapter 9.42, parks are exempt from noise restrictions during scheduled use hours between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.
The pickleball courts operate within a slightly narrower window, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., but enforcement remains limited. The facility is not locked after hours, allowing access outside posted times.
"There's not been any operational change to physically lock that facility between outside of those operating hours,” Smith said. “There has not been any change to that.”
For neighbors like West, that lack of enforcement undercuts the city’s reliance on scheduled hours as part of the exemption.
“So they say that they're exempt from the noise ordinance during scheduled events, and because they put hours of operation on the pickleball court, they're considering that scheduled event, but yet there's absolutely no enforcement of their hours,” West said. “It's wide open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so I'm like, that's really not a schedule.”
No set timeline has been set for when a final solution might be selected or installed as city staff continues to review mitigation options.
