Really? Paving a park for pickleball?

We are residents of Middleton Drive. With developments of this size and scale, residents are typically notified by a letter from the city providing a forum for input.

This did not happen. We received a postcard that looked like an advertisement for pickleball, with no other direct notice about the development of Bonnerworth Park.

Thankfully, someone read it and he notified the surrounding area door-to-door. The majority of residents were unaware and equally alarmed.

We attended the community meeting on March 21 and our concerns were met with resistance.

It is difficult to imagine council could be close-minded to the current news, anger and lawsuits across North America due to noise from pickleball. It has already occurred in our city, so how can this be wilfully ignored? And how did this happen again?

The Knights of Columbus Park neighbourhood succeeded in persuading the city to remove the pickleball courts due to the extreme noise.

The city is now shifting the problem to another neighbourhood at a cost of $4 million, $2 million more than was noted in the October 2023 budget.

When city and parks attendees were asked how they would like 16 pickleball courts in their backyard, they were unable to respond! I hope this is because they were taken aback by the passion and anger of the community who showed up to fight for a voice in this development.

Can you imagine being subjected to the noise of 16 courts from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. for seven months of the year?

Please stand up for all Peterborough neighbourhoods. No one should be subjected to the noise generated by pickleball. It has been stated clearly from one end of the country to another that it does not belong in residential neighbourhoods.

Why is Peterborough making the same mistake twice? John and Elaine Gerelus, Peterborough