New guidelines from Missoula Parks and Recreation seek to mitigate noise complaints from a source that at first might seem unlikely: pickleball.
“We have received complaints from Bonner Park neighbors about the noise from pickleball play disrupting their everyday lives,” reads an April 17 Parks and Rec notice addressed to “our valued pickleball friends.” “Adjacent neighbors recently commissioned a professional acoustic study that showed that pickleball play at Bonner Park likely exceeds the decibel level permitted by … the City Noise Ordinance.”
Missoula is hardly the only community dealing with noise complaints as pickleball’s popularity soars. Parks and Rec staff point to a study presented by Pickleball Sound Mitigation LLC at Noise-Con 2023 in Grand Rapids, Michigan (convention tagline: “Creating quiet in a chaotic world”). The study found that pickleball, which uses a hard plastic orb studded with holes, is consistently about 20 decibels louder than tennis. The 85-plus decibel range of a standard pickleball paddle striking a ball, a number cited by USA Pickleball, is even louder than a vacuum cleaner, per a Yale Environmental Health and Safety chart. Missoula’s noise ordinance caps residential sound output at 60 decibels from a distance of more than 25 feet during the daytime.
As a result, players at Bonner Park must abide by new restrictions limiting play to between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., and requiring use of special “quiet” equipment.
“I get it,” says Jim Bachand, board president of the nonprofit 406 Pickleball Missoula, which formed in 2022. He’s eager to address noise complaints, although it’s clear that the popping of a pickleball game is music to his ears. He likes to play three to four hours a day on the weekends. The group is currently promoting its Spring Fling tournament on May 17 and 18 and welcomes beginners.
At Fort Missoula Regional Park, far from any potentially grumpy neighbors, the pickleball courts quickly fill on a beautiful morning in May. It brings Bachand hope in these divided times.
“People generally show up here and mix into a game,” he says. “They’re not generally coming to play with friends. Right now I can tell you three of these courts are all random play.” He motions to the congenial atmosphere. “Just think of how that breaks down barriers when strangers start talking to each other in a really safe sport such as pickleball.”
And so in the spirit of community cooperation, 406 Pickleball Missoula worked with Parks and Rec to devise rules to keep the game in play at Bonner Park and, eventually, at the new Skyview and Marilyn parks in the Miller Creek and Linda Vista neighborhoods.
“I’m familiar with some other cities in the country where the tennis people have become very territorial over the pickleball people. We’re fortunate to live in Missoula, and everybody works so hard to get along,” Bachand says. “There hasn’t been a solution for quieter play until a few months ago.”
He pulls a neon yellow foam rubber ball out of his gym bag and sets it next to the traditional pickleball. Manufacturer Gamma advertises the new softer ball as a quieter option that will hopefully keep pickleballers in compliance. It’s not approved for official tournaments, and it doesn’t bounce the same way as a standard ball, but it’ll do.
“If it’s a choice between playing with the quiet ball at Bonner Park and not playing at all, I’m sure people won’t mind,” he says. “We’re working hard to maintain a good partnership with the city.”
Quiet paddles are also now on the market.
As for disgruntled neighbors, none were to be found near Bonner Park the same sunny weekend, where pickleball players gathered for a lively doubles game featuring the new quieter ball.
Nearby, longtime resident Catherine Gilbert seemed unbothered by the action. “I’m sure it’s going to be fine, I heard they changed the rules,” she says.
Gilbert was out working as a volunteer gardener, tidying up the small traffic-calming roundabout at Ronald and Evans streets next to the pickleball court. She wasn’t sure where the noise complaints originated, but she thinks it could have been any resident within a few blocks’ radius. “The sound really does carry—it’s a ‘pop, pop, pop.’”
As she raked out hedge trimmings, instead of pops, a more gentle “thwop, thwop” sound emanated from the court. “We just kind of smile and say, ‘Oh, the pickleballers are out again,’” she says.
Visit missoulaparks.org/pickleball to learn more about the city’s newly updated pickleball regulations.
