By Brian Trompeter
After a request by a local club and the acquiescence of a narrow majority of neighbors, the Vienna Parks and Recreation Department will expand Saturday hours for pickleball playing in February, town officials announced Jan. 8.
The Vienna Pickleball Club had asked for town officials to extend the Saturday winter pickleball hours at the park from between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. to between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The new hours would match for four-hour window available during warmer seasons, said Vienna Parks and Recreation Director Leslie Herman.
Town officials on Dec. 7 hand-delivered surveys about the proposal to residents living closest to Glyndon Park and e-mailed contact people for the Jean Place, N.E., and Ainstree Court, N.E. cul-de-sacs.
Of the 32 residences contacted, the town received 11 responses, six of whom favored the hours extension and five who opposed it, Herman said.
Based on those results, Herman said she had decided to allow pickleball play on Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in February, starting Feb. 3.
The Town Council last year set pickleball hours at Glyndon Park, located at 300 Glyndon St., N.E., after entertaining spirited pleas on both sides of the net.
On one side were players and groups who loved the nation’s fastest-growing sport and wanted more opportunities to play it. On the other were opponents who couldn’t stand the nonstop pinging noises from the paddles and wanted a reprieve so they could go about their lives in peace.
The Council decided to let people play pickleball at Glyndon Park on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. between March 1 and Nov. 30. From Dec. 1 through February, people could play the sport on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
After hearing Herman’s report last September of how the pickleball hours and court-reservation policies were working out at the park, the Council last September retained that playing schedule, which now will be changed to allow one more hour of play on Saturday afternoons in February.
