Glen Cove bans the building of backyard pickleball courts for 3 months

The Glen Cove City Council has enacted a three-month ban on private pickleball courts.

The council unanimously passed a law that prohibits residents from building pickleball courts on their property or converting any surface to play the sport.

Glen Cove Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck, during the council’s meeting Tuesday, said the city has been receiving a bump in requests from residents to build pickleball courts in their yards. She said the moratorium will help address noise concerns over the game, which has exploded in popularity in recent years.

“Apparently, in other communities where they have pickleball courts, they’re not like tennis courts — they create a lot of noise,” Panzenbeck said during the meeting.

Individuals that violate the moratorium can receive a $1,000 fine, according to city documents.

The sport has steadily grown in popularity, and there are numerous commercial and public pickleball courts in Glen Cove. Businesses across Long Island have set up indoor courts, with more on the way.

Some outdoor courts on Long Island have spurred grievances over loud popping noises that come from pickleball paddles.

In one case, the Town of Oyster Bay sued the Pine Hollow Club, arguing the club made pickleball courts without proper permits and that the sport was a nuisance to neighbors. A judge sided with the club, Newsday has reported.

Panzenbeck said the council would use the time to consider rules for private courts, including how far they’d have to be built from property lines and if the residential properties will have to be a certain size.

“We’re putting a moratorium so we can study it,” she said.

Councilman John Perrone said in a phone interview that pickleball courts aren't clearly defined in the city's code. The temporary moratorium will allow the council to properly make rules for the courts, which are small enough to fit in the confines of most backyards.

"A yard that can have a swimming pool can have a pickleball court," he said.

The local law indicates the council wants to take a “thorough examination of the impacts playing pickleball may pose to city residents” and “how courts and playing pickleball should be restricted, conditioned and/or regulated for the health, safety and welfare of the community.”

Other municipalities have set moratoriums on private pickleball courts. The Village of East Hampton in 2023 started a moratorium on the conversion of existing tennis courts on residential properties into pickleball courts. After the moratorium, the board of trustees adopted legislation that prohibited the conversion of tennis courts to pickleball courts on residential properties under 60,000 square feet.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ