The Town of Tecumseh will move forward in applying for a provincial grant to pay for the installation of noise barriers at the Zekelman Pickleball Complex and Shawanoe Park.
The pickleball complex at Lacasse Park opened in 2022 and the Shawanoe Pickleball Courts were converted from tennis in 2014.
The cost to install noise barriers at both courts is estimated between $250,000 and $500,000.
The grant request submission would be for $500,000 to the Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund.
Beth Gignac, director of community and recreation services reported to council that a noise assessment was completed in April and the town continues to with the acoustic engineer at Dillon Consulting.
"This is one of the first such studies that's actually ever been undertaken for pickleball in Canada and puts us out on the leading edge in terms of understanding the acoustic impacts of this sport."
Councillor Tania Jobin said the growth of the sport was staggering and was interested in expanding it further in the town.
"I'm looking forward to having more conversations with Ms. Gignac to have some courts out in the south end, and maybe it could be called Petretta Pickelball. I don't know, it's got a good ring to it."
Dave Petretta is the developer behind the $35-million hotel development just off Sylvestre Drive in the southern end of the town.
Lastly, just before the motion passed unanimously, mayor Gary McNamara said Pickleball brings a lot of economic activity to the community.
"Sports tourism is taking off and that's the other piece too, I know we're investing, but it's also bringing a lot of investment back into the community as well."