Standing firmly in their corner: local land-use attorney Phil Rosenzweig, who’s made a career out of crusades for the little guy.
Among his local skirmishes, Rosenzweig championed neighbors’ fights over stadium lights at Lower Merion High School, bulldozers at historic Oakwell in Villanova, and the development of Willistown’s Rockhill Farm. When he was a Lower Merion Commissioner, he wrote the resolution that banished the threat of eminent domain for private gain in Ardmore.
These days, he’s a field general in the pickleball wars. The UMLY lawsuit is his 12thpickleball action.
“I’m really charged up about this because it’s just not right,” Rosenzweig tells SAVVY. “Just because pickle is a hot sport, it doesn’t mean that should take precedence over the quality of life for residential neighbors. Businesses and governments are rushing to find spots to put this stuff. This is literally about whether people have the ability to live peacefully in their homes. Why should any taxpaying citizen be subject to conditions that make it impossible to live there? It’s just offensive.”….
On May 16, three weeks after papers were served, the Y closed its outdoor courts until further notice, sending players scrambling just as the season was heating up.
Among other charges, the suit alleges the Y’s 2022 conversion of clay tennis courts to 12 hard-surfaced pickleball courts was not “simply trading one racquet sport for another” but was a “substantive, massive change” that violated township zoning code and noise ordinances.
The suit claims homeowners’ have suffered “irreparable harm” – with their physical and mental health threatened, their daily lives disrupted, and their right to enjoy peace and quiet in their own homes and yards denied.
Also alleged: the township turned a blind eye to ongoing infractions and conspired with the Y to protect pickleball, “synching narratives” and encouraging the Y to have pickleball players speak at supervisors meetings.
…. “We had a wonderful caring community of pickleball players at the Y that the neighbors blew up with their mean-spirited lawsuit,” player Cathy Rubenstone tells SAVVY. “We are devastated that the Y closed the courts forcing us all to different venues to play.”
Goodness gracious. One would think the chair of another municipality’s planning commission would not be such a salty bitch to residents in a neighboring municipality. She certainly puts the pickle in pickle-puss. Isn’t she the one that used to say there would be no roosters in residential neighborhoods in Willistown?
Anyway read the whole article. It’s fabulous. Caroline O’Halloran did a great job and the pickle of it all is still very much happening in Easttown, complete with a full complement of pickle-pusses.
Well the neighbors are not being heard and this is getting a bit unpleasant and unneighborly isn’t it ?
Sharing verbatim from Berwyn Dispatch:
The Dispute Between the Neighbors and the Upper Main Line YMCA Over Pickleball Noise Continues
I have written 2 versions of this post and have deleted both due to both posts being convoluted and overly detailed. When I find myself in this box, I go to an old stand by. The question and answer format. It allows for easier reading and sharing of information. I apologize for the lack of brevity.
What is going on with the Y and their nearby neighbors?
In short, this is a dispute over noise resulting from the play of pickleball (PB) at the Y. I was surprised to learn that the conversion of courts from tennis to PB happened approximately 2 years ago. There are 12 PB courts and each court can have 4 players during open play time. The location of the courts was not well thought out (my opinion) with the courts being adjacent to a residential neighborhood. Also, the Y did virtually nothing regarding sound mitigation when converting from Tennis and constructing new PB courts.
According to numerous neighbors who have been appearing at Easttown Board of Supervisor meetings since June, the persistent noise has destroyed their peace and quality of life. They live in a R1 zoned residential neighborhood and don’t expect to have to continually deal with this level of noise day in, day out. EVERY DAY.
Is the Y in violation of noise regulations?
That depends on who you ask. The township has measured the noise and maintains that there have not been noise violations as measured by their equipment. The neighbors have engaged with another expert who maintains that there are violations. I am not an expert on this issue and cannot say which equipment is measuring correctly. Still, the noise is a consistent nuisance for these neighbors and the Y has not completed a sound study of their own according to the neighbors. There is a ricochet effect to the noise as well. It bounces off of the building connected to the courts into the neighborhood. I know in my house the volume on my TV in the living room is louder upstairs than it is for me when watching it directly. This is not just an issue in our community. These types of disputes over PB noise is happening all over the country.
Whatever the case may be the Y has done very little to help end the dispute. Honestly, outside of attending a meeting offering to slightly decrease hours of play, they have done nothing. Supervisor Sean Axel stated that the Y has not acted in good faith and more needs to be done by the Y. I am paraphrasing.
Why haven’t the neighbors and the Y worked out this dispute themselves?
It is difficult to work out a solution when one side won’t respond. Per a neighbor’s statement at Monday’s meeting, the Y has not responded directly to the Neighbor’s concerns at all during the last 2 years. I followed up with a neighbor this morning and she stated that the Y responded several weeks after she had reached out to them but with no solution. The Executive Director for the Upper Main Line Y did attend a board meeting on November 18. More on that later.
Has there been any progress on this issue?
Yes. At the November 18 meeting the Y proposed a 2 hour reduction in their hours. The board, at Monday’s meeting, agreed to this reduction. This will be a change to the ordinance that first needs to be advertised. The new hours will take effect in January. PB will be played on Mon – Fri from 8 am to 7 pm and on Sat – Sun from 8 am to 5 pm.
At the November meeting the Y stated that they received a quote for sound mitigation. The cost would be $119,000. According to the vendor’s website, there is no guarantee their sound mitigation materials will work.
The Y requested that the township “partner” with the Y on this issue. Excuse me? The Y is a national organization with deep pockets. Do NOT be fooled by the non-profit status. That is an accounting designation only. They have plenty of money. The township’s lawyer, Andy Rau, clearly stated that Easttown would not be paying any $$ towards this cost. However, Mr. Rau also said that the township may be able to assist with the procurement of grants to help offset the Y’s cost. I do NOT agree that the township should be involved in this effort at all. Paid township employees who work for the taxpayers of Easttown should not be used for this purpose. The Y can handle the search and grant writing themselves.
Why do you think the Y has been so reluctant to engage and why do you think they do not wish to pay for the costs of sound mitigation from their own operating funds?
This is an opinion but one informed by many years in the business world. I think the Y doesn’t want to have a precedent set where they cave into the communities concerns over this issue. You may be surprised to learn that there is big money in pickleball now with tournament purses now up to $2m in some cases. Corporate America has taken note of the growth of PB. Many tournaments are now being sponsored and televised.
This all equal money and fees that can be charged for tournaments. UMLY is in this game and they have held tournaments on their grounds. They are not doing so for free. I do not know specifically why they feel as though their own operating funds should not be used but I would bet big money that it comes down to $$$.
Why is it a problem to hold PB tournaments at the Y?
As almost everyone in this community knows already, the Y’s parking lot is generally packed and there is one little road that leads to the Y’s facilities. Clearly, PB is in a growth phase. Given how the Y’s lack of ANY proactive planning (any planning at all for that matter) for sound mitigation, how can the community have any confidence that the Y can handle PB tournaments?
In our area, there are 3,000 PB players through the Y. That is just in our area. The tournaments the Y has held are now being advertised in other areas of the country. As the sport grows can you imagine the parking nightmares in the immediate neighborhood? The traffic congestion? Does the Y have any plans to address those issues? If so, thus far it has been a closely held secret. There are other issues that have impact on the township’s infrastructure and first responders as well. I will leave that for another day.
Why don’t the Board of Supervisor’s just issue new ordinances that force further reductions in hours of play and increased sound mitigation?
This gets tricky and there are legalities involved that I could write a book on. I won’t do that. I will summarize. There are 2 aspects to creating or changing an ordinance. There is zoning and non-zoning. The non-zoning is much simpler. Those can be change at any time and compliance can be forced. However, most zoning regulations cannot force immediate change. In other words, if a zoning regulation is altered, most of the time an entity that existed under the older regulation would be “grandfathered” in under the old regulations. That is why Berwyn Square’s density still has no limitation although the current regulation is now 16 units per acre.
Of course, there is disagreement on this issue as well. One neighbor in particular can’t understand why the board won’t just legislate this issue away. According to Mr. Rau, that isn’t really possible. The board could do that but if it is overturned on appeal then that leaves the neighbors with little recourse outside of a private lawsuit. Mediation was also mentioned by Mr. Rau but both parties need to consent and, from what I have NOT seen from the Y thus far, I would think it may be an immense challenge to have them agree to mediation.
In Lionville, the issue of outside PB was legislated and the Y sued. Ultimately, the Y withdrew their lawsuit. The cynic in me thinks they did so because they had UMLY to lean back on for outside PB. That is solely an opinion. Not an accusation.
What is your view on this issue?
I agree with Mr. Axel. The Y has come up short and has not lived up to their own mission statement. In my opinion (not Mr. Axel’s), this is all about money. The Y did zero planning when constructing (and converting from Tennis) the PB courts. They have sunk $$$ into this effort and do not want to sink more into a fix. Again, an opinion on my part. The Y, itself, is remaining largely silent on this issue.
Even though it will come with a cost, the Y should, in my view, move the courts AND provide sound mitigation AFTER hiring a sound expert to perform a true analysis in order to determine where PB should be played on their grounds and what sound mitigation materials would be optimal to greatly lessen the impact of noise on the Y’s immediate neighbors.
The clear lack of any planning will come at a cost for the Y. A cost that should be born by the Y. Not the community and especially NOT the neighbors. Neighbors who have suffered enough. It is well past time for the Y to step and do the right thing.
Believe it or not, I am leaving out important aspects of this issue. It is my hope that the press picks up this story and reports on it accurately.
Well I know this has been brewing a while but wowza. I feel sorry for the neighbors. I don’t play pickleball, so it means nothing to me. I have friends who play and love it. However I do know that it is unusually noisy.
I did a little nosing around and found out this has been going on for a while (as in more than a year? Maybe two years almost?) AND if you listen to the entire meeting somewhere a neighbor says pickleball courts were built without permits? I did a screen record of the meeting because Easttown has their meeting on You Tube but unlisted so that makes me think they could disappear so….
I found the Upper Main Line Y response ineffective. I am told that the Brandywine Y (which I guess owns them now?) has or has had similar issues? I remember a big issue when they wanted to put pickleball in Lionville a year or so ago.
So things about the meeting that made me laugh out loud: kind of asking Eattown to pay for or pay towards noise mitigation with some special fencing? Umm I am still wondering HOW they built the courts without permits?
Back to the meeting. The residents were well spoken and polite. Many of the Upper Main Line YMCA (“UMLY”) supporters and patrons…less so.
One person, can’t recall her name, was as rude and dismissive as could be…and is the apparent chair of the Willistown Planning Commission? Well we all know how Willistown residents get so wonder how she would be feeling if it was next door to her ?
Some of the patrons of UMLY were pleasant-ish and polite, as I mentioned. But so many of the others? Asshats with a misplaced sense of entitlement. I did not hear any neighbor say take away the pickleball courts, only that the noise HAS to be dealt with. Some of the most immediate neighbors, like on Longcourse Lane (a great street, incidentally) are showing by my research as being in Tredyffrin. So accomplishing anything is harder because UMLY is in Easttown.
Here is where UMLY is on the zoning map. Notice the R-1 AKA Residential:
Here is the another attachment – a land use table- I found in e code 360 on zoning:
So again, not a zoning professional. Not an attorney. But I can read. And I have to ask if UMLY is playing a game they can win? And yes I suggested a land use lawyer to a friend to pass along to the residents. Ask the residents in Narberth and even Willistown who have used this man and they will tell you worth every penny.
I added the lighting component of the zoning code because that is also a consideration. Hypothetically, lights might be on later than needed in part to liability concerns. However, I also have to ask WHY those courts are not locked up at the close of every day and even seasonally when it’s too cold to play pickleball or tennis for example? I am asking because residents said at this meeting where pickleball was continuing AFTER operating hours at UMLY? And I will note at present in Radnor an elite private girls school is being rude to neighbors with super daylight bright lights at night shining into windows of neighbors. They lock their courts but say they have to keep lights on and they are not down shielded so I have been told you can wake up at 1 AM and it’s like noon. That is light pollution and that also has serious environmental impacts. It affects bird migration and other things.
Residents are entitled to a reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment, and people might like playing pickleball at UMLY but the residents do indeed have to be considered. And they are not being considered. Neighbors have apparently been trying to deal with this for a couple of years? These neighbors are far nicer than UMLY deserves. Personally I would have given them six months.
UMLY needs to be told a cautionary tale: the tale of Dink City Pickleball that opened for a brief time at Valley Forge Military & College….and closed because the neighbors in Tredyffrin had enough of the noise rather quickly.
Dink City Pickleball was forced to close due to a violation of the township’s R1 (residential) zoning code. The business received a notice of violation in July 2023, giving them 30 days to appeal or cease operations. No appeal was filed, and the business announced that August 14, 2023 would be its last day.
Finding the holy grail – a place to play pickle – just got easier, Main Line.
Two enterprising locals just opened what they say is the largest pickleball facility in the northeast: Dink City Pickleball at Valley Forge Military Academy & College.
And unlike YMCAs, country clubs, and Malvern’s new Bounce Pickleball, you pay only for your reserved court time. No need for a membership….With the tagline “community at play,” Dink City is more than cushioned courts, painted lines and regulation nets.
“It’s all the social things around pickleball that we offer – that’s the differentiator,” Norton tells SAVVY.
Think food trucks, corn hole and music on weekends, plus lessons, clinics, leagues, tournaments, pro shop, private events and birthday parties….“I love getting out on the court and getting a good sweat on,” says Norton who’s played pickle for nine years. “But just as much as that, I like hanging out with friends and family afterwards, maybe having a beverage or a taco or something from a food truck. That enhances the experience for everybody.”
The courts have lights for evening play and will be available year-round. “There are some hard core pickle-ballers out there who will play in the cold,” Norton says. “It’s like paddle – once you get moving, you warm up a bit.”…The two decided to cash in on the craze but make it community-oriented rather than an exclusive club. A real estate broker connected them to Valley Forge Military, which has been seeking new revenue streams to offset falling enrollment. (Since 2010, VFMAC has sold 20 acres to Eastern College, five acres to Bentley Homes, and most recently, 23 acres to developer Rockwell Custom for a new senior living complex.)
“The quickest win,” the partners say, was repurposing the lightly-used tennis courts on Radnor Road in the Tredyffrin section of campus. They loved the “heart of Wayne” location – a stone’s throw from St. David’s Golf Club and close to multiple schools, campuses and country clubs.
And if all goes well, outdoor courts in Wayne could just be the beginning for Dink City. VFMAC is in early talks to turn its equestrian center into a sports complex that might include Dink’s first indoor courts. Craft and Norton are also looking at properties in and around Philly and Maryland – although they haven’t yet quit their day jobs.
Yeah and then a few weeks later, it was sayonara Dink City, again I refer to Savvy Main Line:
IN A PiCKLE IN RADNOR. Just two months after they cut the ribbon on a popular new 16-court pickleball facility at Valley Forge Military Academy, Dink City Pickleball is closing.
The trouble began with a “handful of complaints” about noise from neighbors, according to Tredyffrin Zoning Officer Erin McPherson. When she investigated, she found the commercial business was operating in violation of the township’s R1 (residential) zoning code. She sent a notice of violation on July 14, giving Dink City 30 days to appeal for zoning relief or cease operations. No appeal was filed, she says, and today Dink City announced that Monday Aug. 14 will be its last day.
“This is not the end,” wrote owners Bryson Craft and Robbie Norton in an email. “Dink City will be back better and stronger than ever.”
The partners – both young local fathers and pickleball enthusiasts – had leased four lightly used tennis courts from Valley Forge Military Academy and invested big $$ converting them into a state-of-the-art pickleball center with leagues, clinics, “Dink and Drinks” nights, summer camps and more. (See our story in the June SAVVY – link in profile and scroll down.)
“We tried to resolve the issue with the township but they wouldn’t accept our proposals,” co-owner Craft tells SAVVY.
Dink City will refund Open Play memberships and any account balances as of Aug. 15
Pickleball noise is a real problem. There is even a group on Facebook devoted to it – all areas of US and Canada:
IMPULSIVE/IMPACT SOUNDS: By definition, an impact sound is simply the solid collision between two objects, such as hammering, dropped objects, a door slamming shut, metal-to-metal impacts, etc. Impulse sound is defined as the product of a force and duration with which the force is applied. More specifically, impulse is the time integral of force from an initial time to the final time, the force being time dependent and equal to zero before the initial time and after the final time (ANSI S1.1–2013). – ……. The measurement of impulse noise is becoming increasingly common within the industrial hygiene field. Issues for measuring impulse noise issues include dynamic range, frequency range, anti-aliasing, microphone/preamplifier/power supply, sampling rates, etc.. Whether an SLM, dosimeter, or computer-based recording system is used, good impulse noise measurements are not trivial to make. The limits of the microphones may be reached. The influence of nonlinear acoustics can dramatically affect the measurements. – Taken from The Noise Manual, 6th Edition.
Like many pickleball players, when I hear (another) story about how noisy pickleball is, I simply roll my eyes and spew a few snarky remarks about how some people just can’t let others have any fun.
So, you can imagine my response when I discovered there was a Facebook Group called the “Pickleball Noise Relief Group.”
My eyes rolled back, my lips curled, and I prepared to write something blasting a bunch of Karens for wanting to shut down pickleball.However, after a few conversations with the group’s leader, Nalini Lasiewicz, and actually listening to what they had to say, I realized that automatically labeling them as a pickleball hate group that just wanted to ruin our sport was completely off base.
And my preconceived notions about people complaining about pickleball noise couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Basically, I was … I am wrong. And so are many of us who think that pickleball doesn’t actually have a noise problem.
Because for these people and many others who are too afraid to speak up, it’s a serious problem that’s causing them health and mental issues.
Pickleball players: it’s time we admit that there is a pickleball noise problem.
Meet Nalini Lasiewicz
Nalini Lasiewicz is a resident of a Los Angeles suburb who first got involved with pickleball noise issues during the COVID lockdown….Nalini says this exact scenario has played out countless times since she became an administrator of the Facebook Group created by Rob Mastroianni, a Cape Cod resident who had to sell his family home due to the noise becoming too much to deal with.
The group is dedicated to finding and supporting others across the country in similar situations. For many, it’s a platform that allows them to find ways to regain the peace they’ve lost in their neighborhoods.
Look, NO ONE IS SAYING NO PICKLEBALL. But UMLY needs to do right by the neighbors. And that doesn’t mean Easttown Township and taxpayers should be paying for noise mitigation. And If Tredyffrin shut it down at Valley Forge Military Academy and College, zoning is not so different from municipality to municipality given that the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of PA guides it all, correct?
I have no horse in this race, but I have been watching pickleball issues out of curiosity for a while. So Easttown and Tredyffrin residents near UMLY, I hear you and I am not hearing anything other than wanting your environment back. You aren’t being unreasonable. But UMLY and Upper Main Line Y? They are. And still I ask…how did they build pickleball courts without permits if that is indeed true?
Easttown Township needs to deal with this and not play kick the can. Tredyffrin Township could step into help residents if the supervisors can stop contemplating their collective navels long enough, yes? Expectation of quiet enjoyment? It’s a real thing. So pickleballers? This is a real issue. It’s not the noise you all are hearing, it’s what the residents are hearing and that is NOT the same thing.
Pay attention to the Model Noise Ordinance video I embedded here. They talk about the expensive anti-noise fences/barriers. They are discussing how it doesn’t work….
Ok Christmas is not going to decorate itself around here. Have a good night.
