I wanted to provide another update. It’s not the one I hoped for, but we are not giving up the fight. Ms. Cole, the Executive Director of the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA), has said the courts are going to be removed after "careful consideration." In reality, there was no consideration given to the wants and needs of our community or to keeping our courts. We met on June 5 virtually to discuss mitigation plans and effort however since the complainant opted to not join we were told no mitigation efforts would be considered. Our next step is to file an injunction to stop the work on the courts, which is set to begin on Friday, June 14, 2024.
We were hoping to avoid legal action and started this campaign wanting to find compromise and solve this community issue within our neighborhood.
Ms. Cole has become the poster woman for the anti-pickleball group, Pickleball Noise Relief, with her stance that making one person listen to pickleball noise is unethical. This makes no sense and is not backed by anything other than her own opinion. However, she is a celebrity within that very small community. It’s an online group with under 800 members—many of whom are pickleball enthusiasts who joined after their courts were attacked by this group. In contrast, popular pickleball groups have millions of members.
Ms. Cole could not state why pickleball noise is being labeled a health nuisance or noise issue. When asked where this need to do so was coming from, she stated, "everyone knows pickleball noise is a thing, it’s a thing everywhere." She then cited a case in Seattle, WA in which Pickleball Noise Relief was heavily involved. However, in our neighborhood, pickleball noise isn’t an unwanted thing. We have an over 500 to 1 vote in favor of keeping the courts and the noise that comes with it. Pickleball noise isn’t an issue for the average person; it is a very small group of very loud people who find the noise bothersome. There isn’t documented evidence that the noise is harmful or that it needs its own label. The FCPA has self-labeled pickleball noise as an issue but cannot explain why there is a need for this; it’s not from any health organization or reputable source.
Additionally, Ms. Cole didn’t follow protocol with our courts. We were given a fake community meeting in which there was no chance for compromise. We were never given the chance to remedy the sole complaint about noise. The FCPA board was never made aware of the changes to the courts until our community brought it to their attention. It seems that Ms. Cole made this decision on her own and then tried to backpedal and appease the community by having a meeting where we were told that our window for compromise was closed because we violated a community member’s trust by asking them to sign our petition to keep the courts open. We asked all the neighbors to sign a petition, which nearly everyone did, because we didn’t want to make assumptions about the wants and needs of those whose homes back the courts. We have never seen or personally heard of any complaints about the noise from the courts. The whole situation is mind-boggling.
Ms. Cole said she met with FCPA’s legal counsel, and from the information we received, closing the courts was not a legal issue. She effectively stated after the legal team met, legal did not make a decision. Yet Ms. Cole is still standing firm on her one-person stance.
So this is where we stand now. The fight isn’t over, and pickleball is still going to be played in the neighborhood one way or another. The one thing this experience has shown me is what a great community Annandale is to be part of. The vast majority of residents want to live in peace and harmony with each other. The number of people who have supported keeping the pickleball courts, even those who don’t play the sport, because they see the value of our community having a healthy way to connect and come together has been touching. We will still pickle on and continue to build relationships and community that make Annandale a great place to live.
Pickle on my friends!