Evan Saunders
Special to Niagara Now/The Lake Report

Council members narrowly defeated a plan Monday to immediately address light pollution complaints from Virgil’s popular pickleball courts.

The pickleball courts have become a popular attraction for NOTL residents during recent years and have provided a revenue stream for the town. 

They have also become a source of irritation for some neighbours.  

The town has received two formal complaints regarding light pollution from the pickleball courts, located in the Centennial Sports Park, according to Monday night’s council meeting. 

The town has already tentatively set aside $32,000 in the 2022 budget for improvements to the pickleball court lights.

The motion, defeated 5-4, on Monday requested that the town add the improvements to the 2021 budget and spend an additional $13,000 to raise the lights to a height of 65 to 70 feet, in order to minimize light pollution for nearby residents.  

Councillors against the motion took issue with interfering with the 2021 budget instead of waiting until 2022.  

“We don’t have the money now,” Coun. Erwin Wiens told councillors.  

Wiens expressed his sympathy for residents, but said people buying property that backs onto a park should expect some activity at the park.

“For lack of a better way to say it, ‘buyer beware.’ If you’re gonna back on to somewhere where there’s lights and all that, there’s certain things that come along with it.” 

Kevin Turcotte, manager of parks and recreation for NOTL, noted the lights were there before the tennis courts were converted into pickleball courts.  

Coun. Clare Cameron was among the councilors in favour of addressing the issue in the 2021 budget. 

“We’ve provided accommodations and help for residents who are bothered by the light from a single street light through shielding and creative solutions,” she told councillors. 

“I see this as a similar sort of accommodation, simply on a larger scale,” she said. 

Though the motion was defeated it does not mean the issue will not be dealt with, simply that it has to wait until the appropriate money is available in 2022.

“We have a plan in place. We have to stay to our plan,” Wiens said in an interview Tuesday. 

“When you’re responsible for the public purse, you have to set priorities and you have to stick with them,” he said.  

“If we use $60,000 (of reserve funds) this year, we’re not going to take it from somewhere else. Reserves are there for emergencies. Digging into reserves is not fair to the future.”