A Maine family claims their peaceful existence has been shattered by the incessant noise from a pickleball court that recently opened near their waterfront residence.
Alexander Giblin, 40, and his family have been enduring constant noise disturbances, as the nearby court buzzes with activity for up to twelve hours daily, disrupting their tranquility.
Addressing the Belfast City Park Council on Tuesday, Giblin emphasized, as reported by Bangor Daily News, “This isn’t just background noise,” highlighting the pervasive sound.
“It’s an unending, intrusive clamor that invades our home, heard through windows and closed doors, with no escape,” he explained.
Giblin, his wife Lauren Valle, 39, and their children reside at their bayfront property on Mayo Street.
In a Facebook post, Valle noted their home is situated just 178 feet from the four pickleball courts, underscoring the proximity of the noise source.
Valle said the sounds of the sport echo into their home for around twelve hours a day, as they keep out of their backyard or drown out the noise with the radio, fans or headphones to stay sane, the outlet reported.
‘Our courts “hours” are from 6am to 9.45 pm, however people play outside of these hours. The courts have lights that shine through our windows, and kids playing late into the night, because the timer on the lights is broken, so the lights don’t turn off,’ she wrote.
Alexander Giblin, 40, and his family have been relentlessly tormented by noise from a nearby pickleball court as community members are heard playing for around twelve hours a day
Giblin and his wife Lauren Valle, 39, live with their children at their bayfront home, seen above, on Mayo Street
Valle said the sounds of the sport echo into their home for around twelve hours a day, as they keep out of their backyard or drown out the noise with the radio, fans or headphones to stay sane
‘We get woken up by pickleball games started at 11:30 at night. We often call the police. It is horrific. We have lived here for 5 years, and have been tortured by it.’
Valle said that they were able to ‘mostly ignore the noise’ at first, but she has begun to experience ‘severe mental distress, anxiety, insomnia, grief and despair’ from the noise.
‘We can hear pickleball from every room in our house….For years we have felt helpless and like it was something we just had to deal with,’ she continued.
Valle said that the home they moved into to raise their children felt like their ‘forever’ home, but now the family constantly consider moving.
‘But I don’t want to move. Our children are 5 and 7 and they cannot fall asleep at night from it, they cry. I feel like a failure of a mother for not protecting them,’ she wrote.
‘I am weeping as I write this. This is such a profound issue. I find myself feeling jealous of people who do not have to listen to this. It is an absolutely crazy feeling, and so isolating. My mental state is precarious.’
The sport, which continues to grow in popularity, has seen locals breaking into the light control boxes to switch the lights back on to keep playing long into the nighttime, City Manager Erin Herbig said.
‘Maybe it’s too much for the tranquility of what Belfast City Park was designed for,’ Mayor Eric Sanders said at the council meeting, the outlet reported.
The sport, which continues to grow in popularity, has seen locals breaking into the light control boxes to switch the lights back on to keep playing long into the nighttime, said City Manager Erin Herbig (pictured above)
The council has begun exploring alternative locations for the courts, but until a permanent solution can be found Herbig hopes that measures can be implemented to limit the noise disturbances.
One includes a quick fix to the light boxes, ensuring that the lights automatically shut off at 8pm and cannot be tampered with.
Hours for access to the courts will also be restricted, keeping play limited from 8am to 8pm only. It remains unclear how this measure would be enforced.
Several council members, however, also noted the beneficial aspects of the courts, including community and physical activity.
‘It can be a tremendous benefit and negative at the same time,’ Council member Daniel Miller said, Bangor Daily News reported.
However, the toll it has taken on Giblin and his family have left them at their breaking point, as they often escape their home to avoid the noise.
‘I became so severely distressed and agitated from the constant and continuous pickleball noise that by Sunday evening [of Memorial Day weekend] I considered taking myself to the emergency room,’ Valle told the council meeting, citing a tremendous loss of sleep from the ordeal.
‘My brain and my nervous system are currently injured, and I am not okay.’
‘Maybe it’s too much for the tranquility of what Belfast City Park was designed for,’ said Mayor Eric Sanders (pictured above)
The couple are hoping that their formal complaint to the city filed last week will ease their frustrations and put their lives back to normal, but they stressed that they would be prepared to take legal action.
‘This is not about opposing the sport or the players, in fact no one is to blame,’ Giblin told the outlet.
‘This is about zoning oversight, one that occurred because no one could have predicted the sport’s staggering rise in popularity, or more importantly, prolonged exposure to the noise it produced.’
Another meeting regarding the topic is scheduled for the city’s next council meeting on June 16.
The Daily Mail reached out to Belfast City Park Council for comment.
