A group of pickleball players has taken its fight to reopen popular outdoor pickleball courts in North Saanich to court.
The group has filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court for a judicial review of a North Saanich council motion that closed the Wain Park courts in May, citing a failure by council to follow its own bylaws.
They argue that councillors breached the district’s rules by making a decision on the courts on April 29 when the item was not on the council agenda for the day.
A district bylaw states that only matters included on the agenda will be considered at a council meeting unless a new item is properly introduced as a late item.
The district has 21 days to respond to the petition, which will lead to a hearing unless the district agrees to reopen the courts, said Brian Harrigan, a member of the group taking legal action.
Harrigan said the group hopes to find a resolution without having to proceed to a hearing. “This petition is honestly a last resort to get the courts back open.”
The petition asks the courts to set aside the resolution that permanently closed the courts, to make a declaration that councillors breached rules of procedural fairness in coming to that decision, and to implement an interim order preventing the district from taking any further action on the courts until the judicial review is resolved.
The April 29 meeting agenda included a staff report on noise-mitigation measures for the courts with a recommendation that council receive the report “for information and discussion.”
The report concludes: “Considering the history of resident complaints received by the district, consideration of noise mitigation is recommended for the pickleball facility at Wain Park.”
The only late item attached to the April 29 agenda is a letter from a resident with concerns about the potential for creating a reservation system for tennis courts at Wain Park.
“If it wasn’t included in late items, then it’s not properly, it’s not lawfully before the council. So they can’t do that,” Harrigan said. “And it’s not just a proposition. This thing is recorded. Council meetings are recorded. It wasn’t on the agenda. It wasn’t included in late items.”
Instead of considering the staff report or the recommendations, Mayor Peter Jones introduced a motion to permanently close the Wain Park pickleball courts, the petition says.
Video recording of the council meeting shows the mayor or someone on his behalf had prepared the text of his motion ahead of the meeting, the group says in the petition.
During a council meeting the following week, Coun. Jack McClintock urged councillors to introduce a motion to reconsider the decision. He called the pickleball supporters who filled the room and were vocal in their disagreement during a speech from council explaining the closure “a mild form of peaceful protest.”
“We’ve seen the volume of support and interest by the community,” he said.
McClintock said he was not able to introduce the motion himself because he had already voted against closing the courts on April 29.
At that May 6 council meeting, Jones said if a motion to reconsider was introduced, he would vote against it, “because I feel that prior notice should have been given to this council and to the public.”
No councillor stepped up to introduce a motion to reconsider the closure.
While the district has said sound-mitigation measures for the courts would cost $90,000, regional pickleball associations cite an estimate of about $35,000.
Brad Watson, president of the Saanich Peninsula Pickleball Association, said his association and the Victoria Regional Pickleball Association are willing to contribute about $8,000 between them toward the cost of installing acoustic panelling to minimize noise.
“This is the sadness of the situation. Thirty-thousand dollars makes this problem go away,” Watson said.
The associations conducted tests of noise levels from pickleball at Oak Bay’s Carnarvon Park courts in May that showed sound-mitigation measures there reduced the noise from pickleball to the same levels as tennis, in both frequency and tone, dampening the typical high-pitched sound of a pickleball meeting a paddle.
The group argues in the petition that Jones “appears to have made a commitment to certain residents that he would ensure the courts were closed to pickleball,” citing email correspondence obtained through a freedom-of-information request.
In that correspondence, Jones writes: “For 2024, I expect no pickle ball at Wain Road and courts to be repurposed for another sport such as tennis. Above not cast in stone yet but we have a road map.”
Harrigan said it’s OK for the mayor to run on a platform of closing the pickleball courts, but “it’s incumbent on him as a leader and a decision-maker to make a decision with an open mind, not to have a closed mind first, and then entertain arguments.”
The group says the issue is about more than pickleball.
North Saanich resident Frank Gee said he initially resisted legal action in favour of trying to negotiate with the district, but a lack of willingness to engage with pickleballers changed his mind.
“The democratic process here is being so abused,” Gee said. “It drives me crazy.”
Sophie Lauro, a North Saanich resident who lives about 10 minutes from the courts, said she found a supportive and welcoming community on the Wain Park courts when she took up pickleball a few years ago.
“Suddenly, we’re planning Christmas parties together. We’re planning different potlucks,” Lauro said.
The courts became an easy way for her to make friends and feel connected in her community, she said.
Now, Lauro ventures farther to pickleball courts in Sidney, but she said the longer commute means she’s not able to play as often and it’s harder to co-ordinate times with friends.
The Wain Park courts, by contrast, operated on a drop-in basis and there was always someone to play with, she said.
“I lost a little bit of routine… Something is missing.”
Jones said he would not comment, as the matter is before the courts.
