The Sedona City Council held a work session on Oct. 9 at which council members supported creating new regulations for pickleball courts located on private property.

The session followed complaints made by several Chapel area residents during the public comment period at the Sept. 24 City Council meeting. They objected to the ongoing construction of a private pickleball court in the neighborhood, stating that noise from pickleball play would be hazardous to their and their dogs’ health.

“Our current Land Development Code does not have any regulations and we have never had any regulations in regard to sport courts,” Planning Manager Cari Meyer said. “We generally consider them in same way we’ve considered concrete patios, or concrete slabs in a backyard, which are allowed without a permit,” although she noted that additional construction features, such as fences, grading or lighting, might require permits.

“Since we don’t have a permit specifically for a sport court, we don’t have a record of necessarily how many there are in the city,” Meyer continued. Using aerial photography, city staff counted two existing sports courts at Los Abrigados Resort and Poco Diablo Resort, four in homeowners’ associations and seven at private homes. Five of the courts at private homes are for tennis, one is for basketball and one is for pickleball.

“We also looked at the code enforcement history of each of these properties, and we did not find anything related to noise or the use of the courts,” Meyer said.

“Anything that’s constructed that’s legally permitted at the time it’s constructed would be grandfathered,” City Attorney Kurt Christianson stated. “If, for example, the city decides to adopt a new setback of 200 feet from property lines, all existing courts are not going to have to be torn out.”

With regard to noise, Meyer pointed out that “the city obviously has just overarching noise regulations for the entire community, regardless of what you’re doing on the property.”

Christianson added that an additional code provision allows subjective citation of individuals if they produce “any noise that disturbs the peace and quiet of a neighborhood.”

“As Cari mentioned, apparently none of the neighbors have complained about the existing courts,” Christianson said.

“That is an enforcement opportunity that we do have even for any of these grandfathered properties,” Councilman Brian Fultz said. He asked if the city could impose an emergency moratorium on court construction, possibly using the mayor’s emergency powers, “so we don’t have anybody hurrying up and coming in and trying to get another court started … Is this an emergency of the health and welllbeing of the public?”

“We don’t have any true emergency here,” Christianson said. “The regulations that are being proposed by Public Works and the City Attorney’s Office could support would be reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, and not outright bans anyway, because that’s all the data supports.”

“Is there any way that we would be able to require people to put in mitigation for existing courts?” Councilwoman Melissa Dunn asked.

“Generally, no,” Christianson said. “Generally, they’re going to be grandfathered.”

“If no one has complained about the existing courts, wouldn’t it be a stretch to require mitigation for something that isn’t an issue?” outgoing Councilwoman Jessica Williamson asked.

“We need to think comprehensively about this,” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella said, suggesting that council needed to head off any possible future changes in residents’ sporting preferences or recreation patterns that could require future regulation.

“I’m worried about small tournaments in places with multiple courts,” Kinsella added before proposing limits on the number of courts an individual could have.

Resident Becky Hofer had claimed at the Sept. 24 meeting that noise of 110 decibels was recorded “at the paddle,” and reiterated the claim on Oct. 9. Per the inverse square law, a 110 dB sound diminishes at a distance of 26.35 feet to 60 dB, the city’s noise limit for residential areas as measured “at the exterior line of a property.”

Resident Craig Swanson said pickleball was “qualitatively and quantitatively” different from other sports and described the noise as “unbearable,” and said the city could be sued by somebody “who’s driven crazy” by the noise.

“I don’t want to prohibit people from having fun,” Williamson said. “We have to accept a certain amount of noise in our neighborhood. I don’t believe anybody has to accept pickleball.” She then called pickleball play “unique assaults” and “insufferable” and said council should avoid complications by regulating pickleball courts and play only, rather than sport courts in general.

Furman called for a focus on “percussive noise sports” and termed pickleball “particularly disturbing,” while Kinsella suggested additional restrictions that she said would be “reasonable regulations,” including setback requirements for courts and requirements for size, screening and lighting.

“I want us to help the neighbors as aggressively as possible to require mitigation and if necessary to assist in the property owner being cited,” Fultz said, and supported more pickleball-focused regulation “as quickly as possible.” Dunn said she wanted a “broader” ordinance to cover all percussive sports.

“I’d like to get ahead of the curve on pickleball,” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog said, saying that she was “completely in support” of more regulation.

“Tennis is damn annoying, but so is basketball,” said Mayor Scott Jablow, who also said he wanted noise limits and setback requirements. “That noise of the pickleball is so much more invasive.”

Part of the city’s agenda packet read, “While much of the discussion has been about pickleball, the city cannot single out ‘pickleball’ and adopted regulations would apply to all sport courts.”

Ploog supported a future inquiry into whether the city should lower its daytime and nighttime noise limits to 55 and 45 dB, respectively. Council “should evaluate whether or not our noise ordinance code … actually fits what we want for our community,” Dunn added.

Meyer said that it would take staff three to four months to draft more restrictive sport court regulations and go through the process required to amend the Land Development Code to enact those regulations.

The mayor and city staff officially opened eight pickleball courts at Posse Grounds Park on Oct. 22.