By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — Birchwood Country Club has asked the Planning and Zoning Commission to delay discussion of its plan to add four pickleball courts until Sept. 12.

The move came after neighbors, just feet from the proposed courts, teed off on the plan, raising concerns about noise. Staff and commission members wondered if a better place on the 81-acre property couldn’t be found.

The club’s request for a special permit was heard July 11, and continued to July 25.

But after the concerns, and an acoustical report by a firm hired by some neighbors was completed, lawyer John Fallon wrote to P&Z staff requesting the discussion be delayed until the commission’s Sept. 12 meeting.

“This continuance will provide the club sufficient time to evaluate possible alternative locations in a constructive effort to address concerns raised and comments at the hearing on July 11,” Fallon wrote.

“As further discussed in our call in order to facilitate this continuance the applicant hereby consents to an extension of time as provided pursuant to statute with regard to the continuance of the matter to a September agenda of the commission.”

Pickleball is played on a badminton-sized court with hard paddles and balls similar to a Wiffle ball. But the equipment used is noisier than tennis, and players tend to get more excited.

Demand for pickleball courts exceeds what’s available, but the noise issue has been a problem in communities around the nation.

Birchwood initially applied for a special permit to construct five pickleball courts on the south side of its property. After discussions with neighbors, that was scaled back to four, and 10-foot fences with noise absorbing padding was added to the plan.

There would be no lighting, so hours the courts would be used during daylight hours and seasonally.

Also since the last Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, an acoustical study commissioned by neighbors has been submitted by Thornton Acoustics of Mill Run, Pa.

The report summarized the findings:

• The noise generated by pickleball is distinctly different from other racket sports, such as tennis, and is characterized by staccato, Impulse noise events with each paddle strike emitting loud tones that are highly annoying, due to the loudness and pitch, to the human ear/auditory system.

• The noise from the proposed pickleball courts, as heard onsurrounding properties, is grossly in excess of the typical ambient sound and is incompatible with the surrounding suburban community.

• The pickleball noise, due to the level, frequency content/pitch and temporal nature, creates a clear noise nuisance and interrupts the peace and enjoyment of the adjacent residential properties by any reasonable standards.

• Noise barriers, plantings, etc., will not reduce the noise emitted by pickleball due to fundamental physical limitations and as such are not solutions to this potential problem.

• The pickleball courts are fundamentally incompatible, due to noise emissions, with the surrounding community.

The report differs with one commissioned by the club. The neighbors’ acoustics firm took issue with that report’s methodology. Read the full report below.

Thane Grauel, the Westport Journal executive editor, grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond more than three decades. Learn more about us here.