Via Capital Daily reporter-editor Mark Brennae (Photo/Article courtesy of Capital Daily)
Supporters of a judicial review to determine whether North Saanich’s council followed proper procedure when it closed the community’s outdoor pickleball courts last spring have cancelled their request.
And as the district discusses the possibility of building new courts, one of its councillors plans to revive the possibility of reopening the shuttered ones.
“I’ve been waiting for the matter, the legal matter, to be concluded, so that I can move forward on my support of reopening the pickleball courts,” Coun. Jack McClintock told Capital Daily.
“Now it’s not before the courts, so the gates are open again,” he said. “The arguments can be raised to reopen the pickleball courts.”
A judicial review hearing was scheduled for Feb. 10.
Proponents of a review into the May 7 shuttering of the Wain Road pickleball courts decided to drop their request for a legal look-see into the closure after an incident in the council chambers at a Jan. 13 council meeting.
It happened during a discussion of the possibility of building courts at nearby Blue Heron Park—a capital project that according to North Saanich estimates would cost $674K—to replace those closed due to noise complaints. Mayor Peter Jones brought forth a motion calling among other things, for the district to survey residents living up to 600 metres away from where the courts would be built—that’s four times the common distance required, Brad Watson president of the Saanich Peninsula Pickleball Association told Capital Daily.
BAP guidelines call for absorption panels
“Guidelines from BAP Acoustics that all of BC municipalities follow, you don’t have to even have sound mitigation beyond 150 metres away,” Watson said, referring to the Vancouver-based company that has a Victoria office and has performed sound tests on pickleball courts.
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