Pickleball court plans spark uproar in West Nashville neighborhood

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - An online petition is making the rounds in West Nashville.

People in the area believe they were kept out of a vote to build a pickleball court feet away from their homes. They said the courts could bring more traffic and noise pollution to their backyards, so they are organizing to stop it.

Metro Parks said the pickleball courts would replace three deteriorated tennis courts in Charlotte Park, but the issue involves the residents living just feet away from the courts, who claim they did not know the project was happening.

Maria Baldo said she heard the news of new construction in her neighborhood through word of mouth.

“We caught wind that they’re changing this into a 10-court pickleball stadium,” Baldo said.

Baldo said she took the news straight to her fellow neighbors

“I brought it up at our neighborhood association meeting to see if they voted on it, and maybe I was just left out of the vote,” Baldo explained. “Come to find out, this vote didn’t take place here at all. It took place at McCabe Park which is about 4.5 miles from here, and McFerrin Park which is in East Nashville.”

Wesley Pantoja said he found out about pickleball court plans through an online petition that Baldo created, which had 72 signatures on it.

“Why were we not involved in the vote?” Pantoja asked. “It was concerning that we just got handed the plans for ten pickleball courts and weren’t, really, involved in the decision.”

Metro Parks said there will not be stands or bleachers, but the plan is to build 10 pickleball courts and will look into ways to keep the noise levels down.

Baldo said that’s not enough, however.

“A lot of people don’t know how loud pickleball is,” Baldo said.

With the popularity of the sport, Baldo believes people living feet away will be flooded will the constant noise of hundreds of pickleball games.

The noise is not the only thing Baldo and her neighbors are worried about.

“This is going to have a direct impact on the noise, the parking, the traffic in our neighborhood,” Baldo said.

Metro Parks said two meetings were held in 2023 to ask tennis and pickleball players in the area what their court preferences were, those meetings were posted on multiple tennis and pickleball courts in the city.

Baldo said she reached out to the district’s Metro Council member, Rollin Horton.

“He said this was voted on and this is a done deal,” Baldo said. “The votes were cast in McFerrin Park and McCabe Park last November to put them here, between the tennis community and the pickleball community.”

Horton said he spoke with Baldo but has not been given a link to her petition. He said the city is excited to secure much-needed improvements and refurbishments for the park.

“I hope that we can fight it, I’m willing to fight it until it starts,” Baldo said. “I think it’s fair to expect that there would be a re-vote and that we could be included in the discussion.”

“There are people that have to live with this decision 24 hours a day not just when they want to come and play pickleball, so we’re the ones that are going to be hearing the noise of 10 pickleball courts going off at the same time,” Pantoja said.

Metro Parks said there is no specific timeline for the construction.

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