Centennial this week approved a six-month moratorium on the construction of new outdoor pickleball courts in the city so that it can assess the potential for noise complaints, and how to minimize them, as the popular sport continues to boom in Colorado.
The City Council voted 8-1 on Tuesday night in favor of the temporary ban, which will end on Sept. 30 unless extended by the council.
There have been multiple reports from around the country about neighborhoods driven crazy by the sound of the impact between pickleball and paddle, which some acoustical engineers characterize as an “impulsive sound” that is particularly bothersome to the human ear.
Other neighborhoods seem to have no problem with the sound of the sport.
Centennial’s moratorium comes as pickleball, a mashup of tennis and ping-pong that is easy to learn and highly social, explodes in popularity. Last month, the Sports and Fitness Industry Association reported that 8.9 million people played pickleball in 2022 — nearly double the number who picked up a paddle the previous year — making it the fastest-growing sport in the United States for the third year running.
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