Carmel (also known as Carmel-by-the-Sea) is a very wealthy small city (area one square mile, population 3,200) near where live. It has many quirks due to its origins as an artistic enclave a long time ago, the most noteworthy being the ban on numbering houses on its streets, something I have written about, as well as banning high heels in certain parts of the city. Efforts to require street numbers brought out fierce opposition from long-time residents despite the many drawbacks of not having numbers. After years and years of heated debate, the city council finally passed an ordinance requiring numbering. That seems to have settled that issue, at least for now.

But now Carmel has adopted an ordinance banning the sport of pickleball (due to its noisy nature) in its only public park, making it a misdemeanor to do so.

In a meeting punctuated by raucous clapping, angry words and threats of legal action by pickleball players, the Carmel City Council voted 5-0 on Tuesday, Dec. 2 to ban the sport at Forest Hill Park, with council members collectively saying the park in a small canyon surrounded by homes is the wrong spot for a game that can get noisy.

“It’s just a bad spot for pickleball and we’re all sad that it’s true, but it’s true,” Mayor Dale Byrne said. “The answer is just somewhere else.”

In the leadup to the vote, pickleball players were bitter, upset that the Council veered away from a compromise crafted by the city’s Forest and Beach Commission that limited play to three days a week, as well as backing away from ideas previously discussed in September and October like conducting a sound study to consider noise mitigating measures or requiring the use of quiet balls.

But some pickleball players are angry.

The Carmel City Council voted to permanently ban pickleball at Forest Hill Park, the city’s only public park with pickleball courts, after receiving noise complaints from neighbors.

“We’ve had laws against ice cream cones and high-heeled shoes, so this seems like another crazy one that you’re going to outlaw pickleball,” one attendee, Terry Moran, said.

A group of seniors who play pickleball weekly pushed back against the decision, feeling excluded from the decision-making process.

“We’ve been trying to participate as much as possible, but we feel like we’ve been left out of certain decisions,” Cynthia Vanderburg, a pickleball advocate, said.

The ban follows weeks of debate and was driven by complaints from a small group of residents living near the park.

“We’re not bad people saying you shouldn’t play your sport, just have compassion on the neighborhood that’s receiving this sport,” one attendee said.

Another added, “There are other places for these people to go and play. I can’t. What am I going to do? Sell my house and move away?”
…

Despite the vote, the mayor expressed hope that the council could work with both sides to find a compromise.

So now playing pickleball is a crime, although just a misdemeanor, so we are not likely to see SWAT teams descending on illegal playing and hauling away wealthy retirees in handcuffs.

As I read it, the ban only applies to applies to the public park. I am not sure what will happen is someone builds a court on their own property, which would make the noise even greater for their immediate neighbors. I am sure that we will find out.

Small town politics can get really strange.