KIRKWOOD, Mo. – On a beautiful morning to be outside, pickleball players were testing the new courts at Greenbriar Hills Country Club. The saga surrounding this development proves one group’s recreation is another’s frustration.
“Greenbriar Hills Country Club knew ahead of time before they built their pickleball courts that it was going to be a nuisance to their neighbors,” Kirkwood resident Julie Missey said. “They had the evidence, yet they decided to build anyway.”
Missey’s home in Kirkwood’s Osage Hills neighborhood backs up to Greenbriar Hills Country Club. For months, she and her neighbors have worked to stop the country club from building the courts behind their homes. FOX 2 first spoke with her in January.
“We have all kind of neighbors who will be affected by this noise; the club just doesn’t seem to care,” she said in our Jan. 23 interview.
Greenbriar Hills Country Club declined to do an interview for our first report, as well as this one. A representative told us the club commissioned an acoustical study of the site. In a statement, the club said, “that on-site study concluded that the sound levels of the proposed project satisfy and fell well below all applicable county codes.”
The Kirkwood City Council approved Greenbriar Hills pickleball plans.
“The approval that was granted is only valid if the post-construction sound study shows they’re actually meeting the county’s noise ordinance,” said Jonathan Raiche, Kirkwood’s Planning and Development Services Coordinator.
That’s what Raiche told FOX 2 in January. He was among the officials on-site Monday as the sound study was conducted. We watched as local acoustical engineers surveyed the property, gathering data during pickleball play. Neighbor Cathy Converse collected her own data using a device recommended by a pickleball sound mitigation expert.
“I found there’s an average between 64 and 74 decibels when measured in the fast mode, which is the mode you have to use for pickleball,” she said.
The 64 was in Julie’s house, there was a window open a little bit, and the 74 was in her yard.
The results of the official sound study should be available in the next couple of weeks. Until then, neighbors and the club will anxiously await the findings.
Kirkwood officials told us in January that the city would not issue the country club final occupancy or inspection approval if the sound study finds the pickleball noise violates the county ordinance. Greenbriar Hills says pickleball will not be played on the court until it satisfies the county’s noise ordinance.
We’ll let you know when the sound study is released.