Lambton Shores is in a pickle when it comes to pickleball, but the municipality is hoping it's all sorted out by April or May of 2024.
Mayor Doug Cook said when they originally set up courts two years ago, behind the EMS and fire hall building on Municipal Drive in Grand Bend, they weren't aware of the noise associated with the sport.
"So this year there was a complaint issued and a potential lawsuit was going to come out of that for noise," said Cook. "There are plans to move [the courts] out to Klondyke Park, which is our sports park in Grand Bend. We're going to be building six new courts in the spring, plus one new tennis court."
Cook said the move to the sports park, which is located about five minutes south of Grand Bend on Klondyke Road, should address any concerns.
"The requirement is supposed to be 500 feet from the nearest residence. We're hoping that with the next site we'll stay within that distance from residential and there won't be any issues with having the courts at Klondyke Sports Park," he said.
Cook said the complainant appears to be on board with the plan.
"They've agreed that if we move the courts there wouldn't be anything [lawsuit] moving forward," he said.
Cook admits the municipality is still learning because the popularity of pickleball was unforeseen.
"We did a sports, rec and leisure master plan a few years ago, prior to pickleball, and it wasn't even on our radar when we did our master plan," said Cook. "Obviously when we did our court in Grand Bend, we just figured it was adding to our sports activities, until we realized that there was going to be issues with noise."
Cook said they tried to keep the courts on Municipal Drive open for as long as they could, but they were closed permanently October 17.
He said the local pickleball group has over 100 members.
