Residents Fear Noise from Pickleball Courts Planned Behind Homes
The racket sport is wildly popular but its addition to the Ravaudage development, neighbors say, could bring a near constant drone of ball whacks
March 28, 2025
By Charles Maxwell
Residents who live behind the Ravaudage development where a Life Time Fitness is constructing at least 10 pickleball courts say the city and developers aren’t doing enough to blunt noise and other impacts from the project.
The complex of indoor and outdoor pickleball courts are part of the new 85,000-square-foot health club facility, an estimated $48 million project, slated to open in 2026. The mixed-use development off Lee Road and U.S. 17-92 already includes a Miller’s Ale House, a hotel and other office and retail space.
“Pickleball is a great sport, but it does have a very bad byproduct,” Mark Russell, who has lived in the Park Green Place townhomes for more than 25 years, told the City Commission at a meeting last month. “The hit of the ball on the paddle creates about an 1100-hertz spike, that’s about 70 to 95 decibels, equivalent to a vacuum cleaner to a subway train.”
The views from David Adhira’s patio and dining room table (above) show the staircase of a parking garage under construction at the Ravadauge development. (Photos courtesy of David Adhira)
Russell cited an article from the New York Times in which a York, Maine resident who lives across the street from a private pickleball club said that “having a pickleball court in your backyard is like having a pistol range in your backyard. It’s a torture technique… living here is hell.”
David Adhira, another resident of Park Green Place, said plans show the courts will be just 50 feet from his home. Photos taken from his dining room table and patio show a portion of a staircase for a new parking garage that appears just over the fence from his property line. He told commissioners he’s worried about the toll of the sound from the pickleball courts. He worries about listening fatigue, stress, anxiety, sleep disruption and poor concentration.
Adhira said the construction behind his home is already disrupting his daily life.
“I have observed and documented tangible structural damage to my ceilings, while kitchen plates and glassware shuddered, doors and floors vibrated, and keyboards rattled on our desks,” he said. “I’ve been woken up countless times by the noise, vibrations, and screaming from the construction site, resulting in poor sleep for weeks on end. Even worse may be phantom noise, or auditory hallucinations.”
Commissioners asked Planning & Zoning Director Allison McGillis to meet with residents and the developer to consider solutions.
She told the Voice that the developer shared updated landscape plans for the south side of the Life Time facility, which borders Park Green Place.
The plans include additional layers of shrubs and trees to help reduce the noise and light expected to be produced by the facility.
“They are not proposing additional sound barriers at this time, but have stated that if additional measures are needed once they are operational, an option would be to install an outdoor acoustical barrier such as Acoustifence on the court fencing.” McGillis said. “Staff is going to propose a ‘check-in’ at 90 days and 180 days after they are operational to determine if the additional acoustical barrier is needed.”
A section of plans shows the proximity of the courts to the homes and the proposed landscape buffer.
Adhira said he reached out to commissioners and Mayor Sheila DeCiccio in an email on March 17 because he is not satisfied with the changes proposed by the developer. But he has yet to hear a response.
“An acoustic-fence and a scattering of bushes will not counteract the level of noise projected from these courts,” he wrote. “Waiting three to six months after the facility opens to collect obvious data and possibly consider changes, as though this were an experiment with no legal precedents, is either incredibly naïve or cruel.”
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Charles Maxwell graduated from Winter Park High School and Florida Atlantic University with a BA in Multimedia Studies. His work has appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Boca Raton Tribune, and he is a contributing writer for Keeping it Heel on the FanSided network.
I stay at a place on Cape Cad with a tennis/pickleball court next door. People in the neighborhood often complain about the noise. Ball hitting paddle is very noisy. The solution is not to allow pickleball once the cocktail hour begins.
There have been pickleball courts next to the pool at Cady Way Park for some time. When my husband and I walk near the trail in the morning, we can hear it as far away as the street behind the trail. I wonder if the city has had any comments or complaints from the houses and condos that are very close to the court.
While I don’t live near that site and am not affected by it, I am in full support of the residents having no additional noise or lights disrupting their daily home lives. If they can construct soundproof pickleball courts, then that would be a win-win. Otherwise, a big no.
The residents that live next door to this Life Time project were NEVER GIVEN ANY PRIOR NOTICE of the project before the permit was granted by the City of Winter Park. There was NO PUBLIC HEARING even though Public Hearings are usually required by law. The City of Winter Park needs to prove to the neighbors and the media that it did not commit a VIOLATION OF THE LAW by issuing a building permit for this project WITHOUT NOTICE TO NEIGHBORS OR A PUBLIC HEARING.
When will concessions to Dan Bellows and his Ravaudage development end? Just wondering.
I, too, live in Park Green Place. We expected a large increase in traffic from the project on Bennett…which, by the way, right now needs a 4 way stop at Glendon Parkway…but did not expect to hear “rapid fire” effects right at the border of our little, previously, quiet, subdivision. (Traffic engineer should do a study for the aforementioned 4 way stop. There is more traffic there than at the 4 way stop on Glendon just this side of 17-92).
Yes, the pickleball hitting the racquet is a very annoying sound. I could not imagine hearing that continuously from my home!
The impacted residents nearby at Park Green Place have the right to the “quiet enjoyment” of their homes (no pun intended). The approach being taken by the city and the developer currently does not seem to recognize that right. If I put myself in the shoes of the townhome residents, I know I would be equally unhappy. The economic value of their properties is also being negatively impacted. Revisit in 3 to 6 months? Not okay. Fix it now.