Park Authority will remove popular pickleball courts at Kendale Woods Park
Residents of the Broyhill Crest community in Annandale who’ve been fighting to retain the pickleball courts at Kendale Woods Park have lost their battle to retain them – at least for the time being.
The Park Authority announced it will begin removing pickleball from the park this coming week.
Players seek an injunction
The fight isn’t over, however. The pickleball players plan to file a legal injunction to stop the work.
After one couple who lives nearby complained about the noise from pickleball, the Fairfax County Park Authority announced in May that it would convert the courts to tennis-only, beginning on June 3.
The neighbors argued that all the other people who live near the courts do not have a problem with pickleball and that a single complaint should not cause the shutdown of a popular recreational facility.
For the neighbors, the Kendale Woods courts offered a gathering place within walking distance, as well as a place to enjoy a fun sport.
They proposed numerous compromises. They submitted a petition to the Park Authority, requested a community meeting, and presented their case at a meeting of the Park Authority Board. So far, 538 people signed the petition.
Compromise rejected
Park Authority Executive Director Jai Cole agreed to pause the removal of pickleball until after a community meeting.
She agreed to meet virtually with five community members on June 5. The couple who had complained, Oliver and Yadranka Gregurevic, declined an invitation to participate. [They did not respond to a request to comment for this article.]
After the meeting, Park Authority Marketing and Communications Director Daidria Grayson sent an email to the community stating: “After careful consideration, the Fairfax County Park Authority has made the decision to move forward with relining and signing the courts at Kendale Woods Park for tennis only, beginning Friday, June 14th.”
Related story: Conversion of pickleball courts put on hold
“This deliberation comes after welcomed and informative conversations with members of the neighborhood surrounding Kendale Woods Park and with residents directly adjacent to the park who are impacted,” Grayson continued. “While we appreciate and share the community’s sentiments for Kendale Woods Park, this decision is true to FCPA’s mission to enrich the quality of life for all members of Fairfax County.”
Grayson urged the pickleball players “to make use of the 16 pickleball courts located within five miles of Kendale Woods Park.” She noted that two dedicated pickleball courts will be installed a mile away at Mason District Park in 2025.”
“We are not giving up the fight,” pickleball player Sarah Wysocki announced in an update of the petition on Change.org. She objects to the Park Authority’s reference to “careful consideration.”
“In reality, there was no consideration given to the wants and needs of our community or to keeping our courts,” Wysocki said. The group had expected to discuss mitigation plans at the virtual meeting on June 5, “however since the complainant opted to not join, we were told no mitigation efforts would be considered.”
“Our next step is to file an injunction to stop the work on the courts,” she continued. “We were hoping to avoid legal action and started this campaign wanting to find compromise and solve this community issue within our neighborhood.”
Community ignored
Another pickleball player, Anthony Katchusky, said the Broyhill Crest Recreation Club, which is next to Kendale Woods, gave the land to the Park Authority with the stipulation that is remains a community space. “Announcing they are removing pickleball against the community wishes seems to go against that.”
He faults the Park Authority for failing to address a complaint about the pickleball courts in 2020. The community could have worked with the complainer back then and resolved the issue “if the FCPS had done their job correctly and involved us back then.”
Wysocki accuses Cole of being “the poster woman for the anti-pickleball group, Pickleball Noise Relief, with her stance that making one person listen to pickleball noise is unethical. This makes no sense and is not backed by anything other than her own opinion. … Ms. Cole could not state why pickleball noise is being labeled a health nuisance or noise issue.”
“We were given a fake community meeting in which there was no chance for compromise,” Wysocki said. “We were never given the chance to remedy the sole complaint about noise. The FCPA board was never made aware of the changes to the courts until our community brought it to their attention.”
Related story: Pickleball players fight pending court closure
In a related issue, Fairfax County notified the Broyhill Crest Recreation Club on June 7 that the Heel of the Boot food truck could not come to the pool’s Food Truck Friday that evening. The BCRS’s happy hour event drew a big crowd, nevertheless.
A member of the pool board said someone had complained that the food truck didn’t have the proper permit and that the BCRC has to obtain a permit from the health department before it could continue to host food trucks.
Katchusky called the timing of that announcement “really suspicious.” He says it shows one person can complain about anything and the county will act.
Wysocki said the one good thing the experience with the pickleball issue has shown is that Annandale is a great place to live.
“The vast majority of residents want to live in peace and harmony with each other,” she said. “The number of people who have supported keeping the pickleball courts – even those who don’t play the sport – because they see the value of our community having a healthy way to connect and come together has been touching.”
Thank you for covering this story. Without you, we would have never known that these courts were under attack or in danger of closing. It’s been an uphill battle the whole time and it’s not over yet. Thanks again for alerting the community and providing this space where Annandale residents can learn about matters that impact them and our neighborhoods. You can try and take away our pickleball and food trucks but you can’t take away the spirit, soul, and friendships that make Annandale a unique, vibrant and great place to live.
The neighborhood’s quality of life will be better for the pickleball decision. And someone is critical of enforcing food health rules?
Kudos to the County for fairly enforcing their regulations.
How is the neighborhood’s quality of life being enhanced by taking away pickleball lines against the neighborhood’s wishes? Does the neighborhood not understand something about the health impacts of pickleball? FCPA didn’t follow established guidelines whatsoever in this decision which is why the are now having to deal with lawsuit.
That’s a good decision! Pickleball is incredibly noisy, and it’s not necessarily the decibel level that is the issue. It is the quality of the noise, the sharp clacking sound, hundreds to thousands of times per hour. Pickleball is 10dB higher than tennis. For the courts near residential, pickleball should be all banned!
You can go back to your Pickleball Noise Relief group and spew your made up information over there. You are not a resident near the court.
I guess this was so important of an issue that Oliver and Yadranka decided it wasnt worth their time to join a community meeting. Says a lot…..
The Gregurevic’s commented on a previous article about this. I would find it hard to read what they wrote and still decide they should be forced to listen to pickleball in every room inside their home. But the pickleball players seem to feel like now their rights are being trampled and are losing their minds! A legal injunction? Will they chain themselves to the court to prevent the crews from removing the lines?
That whole 1 hour a day (Oliver’s words) must be terrible. Especially with neighbors saying stuff like, oh. Lets talk about and see if we can work something out that benefits us both. The nerve….
Asking the FCPA to uphold their own guidelines is not unreasonable or making anyone lose their mind. Ms. Cole did not follow established procedures, and if the pickleball courts are removed, it will be a violation of the land use stipulations that came with the courts. Consequently, the pool right next door can reclaim the courts and use them to serve the community as they are intended to do.
Totally agree with you- county says no PB courts within 250 ft yet here it’s less than 100 ft away from the courts. Super loud. Feel bad for the homeowners affected and being villainized
You obviously aren’t from around here and don’t know these courts. What’s super loud is the tiny group of pickleball haters causing issues.
Pickleball Noise relief go troll someplace else. You don’t live here or you would know these courts aren’t less than 100ft from anyone’s house. I feel bad for people who are miserable enough to need to join a support group of pickleball noise. Have fun looking at your psychotic made up graphics. Hey guys there’s this great group online all about hating pickleball let’s join because that’s a great way to spend your one precious life.
*Note, attached links may not work on this forum. But all documents are public on the FCPA website.*
On Friday June 7, 2024, Jai Cole of the Fairfax County Parks Authority (FCPA), called me directly to notify me the decision was made to remove Pickleball at Kendale Woods Park, starting Friday June 14. When asked if this was the decision that came from their legal team meeting, the answer I received was not a yes or no. It was an answer to avoid the question and noting this is the decision that is advised.
During the process that took place over the last few weeks, it was commented that the first complaint was noted in 2020. At this time, FCPA did nothing. Fast forward to today, one house is making a complaint, and this is the decision we have come to. Yet again, FCPA has done nothing to mitigate. According to their own published criteria:As per page 93 here:
Recommended Setback Guidance
◦Internal planning guidelines for new pickleball to be located at least 250’ away from
residential properties. 200’ offset can be considered if there is a treed buffer or
significant change in topography.
◦Existing pickleball that is within 250’ from residential properties shall remain provided
there are no noise complaints. Should there be noise complaints, sound mitigation
measures should be considered or the pickleball moved to a more appropriate park.
Sound mitigation measures were never considered, never tried. During our “community meeting” I offered a sound mitigation plan in the absence of Oliver and Yadranka Gregurevic, who declined to join the meeting. My mitigation plan was never considered. FCPA never offered their own. It was stated from the start, that unless Oliver and Yadranka withdraw their complaint, sound mitigation was not going to be an offering. I note, this is not what is stated on page 93 as shown above. It should also be noted that this publication was in place before any announcement to remove Pickleball at Kendale Woods ever took place. Why was it not followed?
An independent sound study I commissioned, noted the following decibel readings from 100 feet away from the court. 74 decibels as a high. Consistent decibel reading at the 60 decibel average. This was without a sound barrier in the way. The Fairfax county sound ordinance allows 80 decibels for impulse sounds. Pickleball is not identified within the sound ordinance. It is also important to identify the issue with a sound study that was performed at a place such as Walter Reed Park (9 courts and lights for nighttime play) vs Kendale Woods Park, 1 shared use court, no lights. Same effective operating hours as the neighboring pool, which gave FCPA the land.
Page 98 of the above reference FCPA publication notes the following:
◦Adopt 250’ offset from residences for new pickleball development. An offset of 200’ can
be considered if there is a treed buffer or significant change in topography
◦Approve proposed Pickleball Workplan
◦A dedicated funding source of at least 500K per year is recommended for pickleball
development and operations.
◦Consider pickleball as part of Sports Tourism efforts and revenue generation
(ie tournaments)
At Kendale Woods Park, if you take away one of the 2 courts, that court closest to Oliver and Yadranka’s home, the court is over 200 feet away. But ye, sound mitigation was not offered as per what is stated on page 93.
Another interesting note here is the wish for FCPA to figure out how to make money off of Pickleball as noted in the last bullet shown above.
Years ago, the Broyhill Crest Recreation Center gave the land to the FCPA on the wish that the land remain maintained and a community space. Considering the community here does not want the actions of FCPA to move forward with removing Pickleball at this location, this appears to go against the community wishes and is not in the best interest of the community and therefore is no longer serving the community as a community space. Parcel # 0603 24 0008 was given to the park authority 2/7/1983 by BCRC for $0.
Additional notes to consider and memorialize.
Meeting minutes for 2023 nor 2024 DO NOT involve conversations to remove pickleball from Kendale Woods.
FCPA published planning process was not adhered to
– What is the typical planning process?
At the start of the planning process, a staff team is assembled with broad areas of expertise to develop a well-informed, balanced perspective on the park. The master plan team hosts a public meeting to share information about the park, providing an opportunity to introduce the project and park details, and to carefully listen to the community’s input on the future of the park. Park users, neighbors and stakeholders are notified and encouraged to share their insights throughout the planning process.
Their own (FCPA) pickleball study states on page 32: It is inappropriate to change the use of a court if such a change would result in a significant reduction of adopted service levels or conflicts between sports that cannot be minimized or mitigated. Kendale woods would see significance reduction of park use once pickleball is removed. This location has no tennis vs pickleball war or conflict. We play together in harmony and respect each other. Many other communities have worked to mitigate removal of courts by introducing sound mitigation, specified equipment, and or approved play times. We have not been given such affordability. (Glyndon Park in Vienna is a prime example). They were afforded a mitigation plan and it worked. We were not afforded a plan.
On June 6, we were permitted to have a community meeting. However, that meeting was held to only be permitted to have 5 attendees in place. This is not a sample of the community. The intent of this meeting was to talk about how we can mitigate. After the meeting, it was clear we were never talking about mitigation, FCPA was working on “damage control” hoping by broadcasting we are trying to put courts at Mason Crest Elementary as an option. As noted in bullet 2 above, a public meeting should occur to share information about the park, listen to community input, park user, neighbors, etc.
In Closing, the FCPA’s own public documents have failed this community of Kendale Woods. The Community showed up. We said, ok, we have someone here in our community who is having a problem. We are here, let’s get together and talk about how we can all live together and keep our resources. Oliver and Yadranka failed to show up and work together and therefore the community is paying the price. Tax dollars wasted, community at unrest, and a park about to become abandoned.
Thank you
Maybe the civil war is fought over pickleball. Our generation’s Franz Ferdinand.
I find it interesting that now that the FCPA has a study in hand that sets boundaries for pickleball, which wasn’t available in 2020, that the pickleballers are so upset. It seems to me that, in the best interest of their sport, pickleballers would welcome the study so they can work with FCPA for additional courts that meet the criteria and remove ones that don’t. Instead, they are picking a fight over 2 courts that clearly have been shown to violate the study when 2 new ones are coming next year and 16 additional courts are available within a 10-minute drive.
I can imagine that the complainants must be faced with, not only noise issues, but also the incessant thumping and clacking from play, similar to some storied water torture techniques. It’s also no wonder that the complainants didn’t want to show up for a public meeting as the clearly rabid, malevolent and unempathetic pickleballers would likely have made any decent conversation turn into a personal attack full of hissing and vitriolic diatribe.
Honestly, as a park and rec professional, I applaud FCPA for making a well-researched study and fairly applying it across the system. It’s hard to take hits when you’re just trying to make a good, common sense decision. Lastly, the mostly white and clearly entitled pickleballers are probably reeling from a smart black woman that is fairly applying the study guidelines – their white privilege can’t cash in this time.
As a disclaimer, I don’t work in Fairfax Co.
Let me guess Teddy you don’t even live in Fairfax County? From your comment it would appear you are unfamiliar with the area. It seems you’re a member of the lovely Pickleball Noise Relief group they seem to be very invested in Annandale for some reason. What a badge of honor to be associated with that group of lovelies.
Hey Teddy. You know what I find interesting. Published protocols to follow that are not followed. A study in 2020 on courts in areas with 9 plus courts should always convey down to a one shared use courts in a community. Their protocols were published after this study and yet they did not follow them. ehhhh, I guess the older study in grandfathered into effect?
Again you aren’t familiar with our neighborhood which is one of the most diverse communities in the nation. Our pickleball group is not mostly white but again you make assumptions based on nothing. Maybe Ms. Cole is thinking this is about white privilege because she hasn’t actually allowed our community to fairly represent itself. She held a community meeting and allowed 5 people to attend- and even in that tiny sampling the group wasn’t all white. Nothing Ms. Cole did was fair, she didn’t uphold her guidelines and policy, race has nothing to do with that.
Parks and rec professional, like Leslie Knope!
Are you serious—playing the race card — maligning folks, an entire neighborhood in fact. Seems to me it’s more a matter of Park Authority privilege , than your so-called “white privilege” accusation.
I am saddened by the County’s decision and the state of this topic when we have a nation that is very obese, and lacks physical fitness and here we have a neighborhood that has the ability to promote physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle to include the youth in the neighborhood/community. If in fact rules/policies, regulations are not followed by the responsible entities, what is the possibility this info can be discussed with an attorney and get their opinion of what the next steps should be? It seems there are a number of legal issues present which could be explored in that venue.