Lakeview Avenue Residents File Appeal To Stop Noise From Pickleball Courts
Residents of Lakeview Avenue in Falmouth have filed an appeal with Barnstable Superior Court, seeking a cease and desist order that both the building commissioner and zoning board of appeals declined to issue for the pickleball courts at Lawrence School that are responsible for what abutters consider to be injurious noise levels.
The plaintiffs—Stephanie and Robert Mastroianni, Michael B. Galasso, John Churchill, Dustin Fauth and Carol Parmenter, all of Lakeview Avenue—filed the civil complaint against the Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals on January 4, about one month after the board made its decision to not issue a cease and desist in accordance with the decision interim building commissioner Eladio Gore made in September.
The complaint alleges that the zoning board’s decision to uphold the building commissioner’s decision to not issue a cease and desist order was made on “arbitrary, capricious, and/or legally untenable grounds,” and cites the board’s disregard for the town’s bylaw prohibiting injurious and obnoxious noise and its misguided application of education exemption afforded under the Dover Amendment, among other things. The plaintiffs are seeking annulment of the zoning board’s decision and a permanent restraint on pickleball at Lawrence School.
Expert acoustical engineers recommend 500 feet between pickleball courts and residences, according to the plaintiffs’ complaint. Of the plaintiffs, Ms. Parmenter’s residence is the closest to the pickleball courts, at about 40 feet; the Mastroiannis are the farthest away, at about 350 feet. In the complaint, the plaintiffs claim that there was no acoustical analysis done at Lawrence School to determine the appropriateness of the site for pickleball either prior to or immediately following the favorable vote to establish the courts at Town Meeting in April 2019. The plaintiffs also allege that there was no outreach done on behalf of the town to solicit feedback from the residents abutting the school.
According to the court filing, complaints regarding pickleball noise began coming in soon after the courts opened in September 2020, yet the issue was not addressed by the recreation committee until the following July. Minutes from the committee’s July 21, 2021, meeting reflected a vote to seek funds from free cash for sound mitigation at Lawrence School, a recommendation made by recreation director Joseph Olenik based on what he considered to be a successful pickleball soundproofing effort in Mashpee. Potential soundproofing mitigation factored into Mr. Gore’s September decision to not take further action, but the request for funds was later voted down at November Town Meeting after a number of speakers—Ms. Mastroianni and Mr. Galasso included—voiced concerns.
In his September decision, Mr. Gore also cited the fact that school was back in session, something that—in addition to the newly posted schedule and signage—he said would limit pickleball playing hours. But meeting minutes from the recreation committee in the weeks leading up to and following Mr. Gore’s decision show that the committee acknowledged the noncompliance with newly posted playing hours and the excess of injurious noise that members experienced firsthand upon visiting the site.
None of the meetings, the complaint says, resulted in any significant relief from injurious noise for the plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs Mastroianni, Galasso and Churchill commissioned their own expert acoustical analysis of the pickleball noise impact at their respective properties. Using data collected on Saturday, July 24, over multiple hours of pickleball activity, the acoustical engineers determined that the noise levels from pickleball paddle impacts are regularly 10-20 dB(A) over ambient noise, with thousands of 10+ dB(A) peaks in just one hour of pickleball play at Ms. Parmenter’s residence. The study used adjusted equations to represent pickleball impulse sound as quantitative data that accurately reflects the human receptor’s acoustical experience. Engineers were able to contextualize that data using local and state guidelines, both qualitative and quantitative, to determine the presence of injurious noise levels, despite the absence of quantitative standards in the town’s bylaw prohibiting injurious noise.
The complaint says that the study was shared with Mr. Gore at his request in August. A month later, he denied the cease and desist request. Plaintiffs Mastroianni, Churchill and Galasso, with the support of Fauth and Parmenter, filed an application with the zoning board to appeal the denial.
At the zoning board of appeals hearing on December 2, a discussion of the Dover Amendment and its potential application further muddled the issue. The complaint alleges that the board’s decision rested significantly on town counsel Frank Duffy’s opinion that the Dover Amendment provided immunity against the application of town bylaws, which was erroneously applied in this case as the plaintiffs allege that the pickleball activity is part of the town’s recreation program, not the Lawrence School curriculum.
The complaint further alleges that the zoning board made no findings in respect to the town’s noise nuisance bylaw, the qualitative data presented in the study, or the destructive impact that pickleball has had on the property values of the plaintiffs’ respective residences.
The plaintiffs claim that injurious noise from pickleball play at Lawrence School continues to result in distressing sound levels that prevent the residents from relaxing in their own homes and yards and that without significant abatement, persistent noise levels over the past year and a half have caused and contributed to headaches, depression, anxiety and other adverse health effects.
In addition to an annulment of the zoning board’s decision, the plaintiffs are looking to permanently enjoin and restrain the town from allowing pickleball at Lawrence School and are seeking to award costs of action to the plaintiffs.