Pickleball players are heading to court early in the new year to continue their fight against the closing of popular courts in North Saanich.
A hearing is set for Feb. 10 in sa国际传媒 Supreme Court to hear arguments from a group of pickleball players who filed a petition for a judicial review of a North Saanich council motion that closed the Wain Park courts in May.
Noise complaints prompted North Saanich council to explore moving the courts to a new location or forcing players to use soft balls — something players compared to golfers using a wiffle ball.
At an April 29 council meeting, councillors voted to close the courts as of May 7 despite their popularity and heavy use.
The courts are next to a field and across from Birch Road, where there are about half a dozen residences.
The group taking legal action argued in its petition that council failed to follow its own bylaws when it made a decision on the pickleball courts when the item was not on the council agenda for the day.
In its seven-page response to the petition, the district argues the petitioners do not have standing to bring an application for judicial review. It says the council’s process was procedurally fair, the April 29 resolution was not unreasonable and the resolution is not reviewable by the court.
Frank Gee, one of two people who filed the petition, called the argument that the petitioners have no business contesting the motion “a ridiculous position” to take.
“What would give you a right to argue it? I’m a resident. I’m a pickleball player. I play at Wain Park,” he said. “I don’t know how much more connected I could be to this situation.”
Brian Harrigan, a member of the group taking legal action, said he had anticipated negotiating a compromise with the district ahead of the court dates, but that hasn’t happened.
The court challenge was a last resort, he said.
“There were all kinds of examples that we have provided and have collected since then that show this was unfair. It was done in bad faith. There was a bias against the pickleball players,” Harrigan said.
Gee presented findings to North Saanich council in July showing the success of sound-mitigation measures installed at pickleball courts in Oak Bay.
Testing at Oak Bay’s Carnarvon Park pickleball courts showed acoustic panelling could reduce the sound from playing by as much as half, cutting noise levels to around the 45 decibel range, or as loud as a game of tennis.
“They refused to entertain it,” Harrigan said of North Saanich council.
The district said it will not comment on the situation due to ongoing litigation.
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