After almost four years of trying to prohibit the construction of pickleball courts in Chilmark, the town planning board has settled on what members hope will be their final proposal to banish the sport of plastic popping sounds from the town. 

The board’s new proposed amendment to Chilmark’s zoning bylaws, expected to go on a future town meeting warrant, would omit any mention of pickleball courts in permitted uses, effectively eliminating the option for residents to construct new courts. The board voted Monday to start a public hearing process for the amendment.  

This is the town’s third attempt to tamp down the sport, which produces a loud thwacking sound and has been a source of complaints. 

The Chilmark select board was asked to approve the draft article two weeks ago, sending it to the planning board to restart the public hearing process. The select board unanimously approved the draft article, but did have questions on the need. 

“How big of a problem is this?” asked select board member Jeffrey Maida in February.

Public hearings for previously proposed amendments saw residents opposing the sport’s place in the town on account of the noise. 

The last iteration of the effort was a bylaw that would require “documented noise intrusion” of new sports courts be at least 600 feet away from a property boundary line. The planning board abandoned this tactic, citing difficulties in establishing definitive noise pollution levels. 

While the new, simpler approach eliminates the definition of tennis court, which “includes pickleball, platform tennis and a similar sports court,” tennis courts will still be permissible, planning board member Ann Wallace clarified. A separate definition for tennis courts is listed under special use permits in zoning bylaws.

Some planning board members expressed concern over people using pickleball equipment on tennis courts, producing the same loud thwacking sound. 

“Enforcement is a question, and a burden,” said Ms. Wallace.

The amendment likely does not outlaw playing pickleball in Chilmark, or repurposing existing tennis courts for pickleball, according to town attorney Michael Goldsmith. If tennis or pickleball courts were constructed at a time when pickleball was allowed, pickleball could likely continue in those places. 

"I think the zoning officer may run into problems with seeking enforcement,” Mr. Goldsmith wrote in an email to the town. “Owners would contend they are protected as preexisting, nonconforming uses…and they likely are.”

 Pickleball would still be subject to nuisance and noise complaints. But other planning board members said it’s not an issue unless the noise gets too loud. 

“If no one complains, why do we care?” said board member Hugh Weisman. 

The planning board expressed light remorse at attempting to box out a sport that is “fun, great exercise and gets folks out of the house,” said planning board member Janet Weidner. If future versions of equipment produce less sound, the board would reconsider the bylaws to allow for new pickleball courts, she added.

The first public hearing on “pickleball 3.0,” as the planning board referred to it, will be held March 23 at 4:45 p.m.