CUPERTINO IS THE LATEST Bay Area city wrestling with pickleball noise concerns as the sport sparks debates over public space, neighborhood impacts and court access.
A pilot program has been approved to limit free drop-in pickleball play at Memorial Park from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and prohibits pickleball on Mondays from July 2026 through February 2027, according to a Cupertino Parks and Recreation memo. The program, which starts July 7, asks players to use quieter paddles and balls to reduce noise impacts on nearby residents. The city is also exploring building a sound wall.
“It’s seven days a week, from 6 in the morning until 9 at night,” one nearby homeowner, who requested anonymity due to privacy concerns, told San José Spotlight. “It has a specific noise. It’s very different from tennis.”
The resident said the early morning games are the biggest concern. While daytime activity is tolerable, they said the repetitive popping sound from paddles hitting the ball can be heard inside their home despite double-pane windows.
Players said the courts have become more than just a recreational space.
Cupertino resident Zoey Tran said the pickleball community at Memorial Park has helped her family feel connected after moving multiple times in recent years. Tran said the proposed restrictions could limit access for working professionals, families and older adults who rely on early morning or evening play to avoid heat and accommodate work schedules.
“This has been truly a lifeline for my family,” Tran told San José Spotlight. “We feel more rooted and grounded belonging to a community after moving around so much.”
Cathy Chiu, one of the leaders of the Cupertino Pickleball Club, said volunteers helped build and maintain the courts over the years by fundraising for nets, retaping court lines and organizing open drop-in play systems. Club leaders said they’re surprised by the proposed pilot program and believe players have already worked to reduce noise by encouraging use of quiet paddles and shifting early morning games farther from nearby homes.
“We built a community around pickleball,” Chiu told San José Spotlight. “We convinced the city that the courts should remain free, but also free of reservation. So it’s basically open, drop in play, which means whenever you’re available, you bring your paddle, you show up to the court, you put your paddle down on the queue and then you get to play when your turn is up.”
Mayor Kitty Moore acknowledged the growing tension between increasing demand for courts in Cupertino and quality-of-life concerns for residents living near Memorial Park.
“It’s super popular. It’s efficient for space, but noise is a problem,” Moore told San José Spotlight. “It’s a problem in a lot of places.”
City officials plan to evaluate longer-term noise mitigation options, including a possible sound wall near the courts. However, funding for the project has not yet been formally approved as part of Cupertino’s upcoming budget for fiscal year 2026-27, which begins July 1. City staff are also conducting additional noise analysis before any permanent mitigation measures move forward.
Some residents and players question how the proposed restrictions will be enforced. Another nearby homeowner, who asked for anonymity due to privacy concerns, told San José Spotlight they’re unsure how city staff will realistically monitor quiet paddle use or consistently enforce play-hour limitations at the public courts.
The uncertainty surrounding the pilot program has raised concerns about what could be lost if access to the courts is restricted. Chiu worries players will leave pickleball altogether and break up the community.
Chiu said the club has heard countless stories from players who found friendship and support through the courts. One player undergoing chemotherapy told Chiu he schedules treatments around pickleball games, while a widower said the sport helped him rebuild community after losing his wife.
“He said to me, ‘For 35 years, I was a tennis player. I got to know three people really well, I started playing pickleball. I got to know 300 people pretty well inside half a year,’” Chiu told San José Spotlight. “That’s the power of pickleball.”
Contact Maryanne Casas-Perez at maryanne@sanjosespotlight.com or @CasasPerezRed on X.
This story originally appeared in San José Spotlight.