At the outset, the general committee meeting of Peterborough City Council on April 2nd, 2024 was like any other. The tides, and tone, would turn when the topic of discussion turned—as it does from time to time—to that most divisive of sports: pickleball; and with it another chapter of the Peterborough Pickleball Wars was written.

Although in many ways it is a punic victory for those in favour of the paddle sport, whose biggest supporter in Council has arguably always been the Mayor himself, Jeff Leal. 

While the evening business was completed, the tension between Councillor Alex Bierk and Mayor Leal was palpable, and not without reason. Given the subject matter at hand it stands to reason that Leal was on edge. Indeed, he would repeatedly let his guard down for all to see as the meeting rolled along.

At one point Leal could be heard by journalists in attendance telling Bierk that he “would carve him like a Thanksgiving turkey” for mentioning Leal’s wife, a noted fan of pickleball, during his comments about the orginal notice of motion. 

Bierk would later confirm to Arthur in a text message and phone call that this is exactly what Leal had said to him while the meeting was in progress. He added that his comments arose from amicable and supportive conversations he had had with the Mayor’s wife about pickleball in the city during which she had offered to lend Bierk a racket so he could play.

With tempers and flaring in the early Spring, the root of this issue goes back to October when Councillors approved a parks and outdoor recreation plan which proposed 16 pickleball courts, a renovated skatepark, and a specialized bike track to be located at Bonnerworth Park at the corner of McDonnel and Monaghan in Town Ward. 

The initial report, which was received for information by the Committee at the end of a five-and-half hour meeting on October 10th, 2023 outlined the rationale for this concentration of pickleball at Bonnerworth as a response to the rapid growth of the sport in North America, while also mentioning the issue many municipalities are facing as a by-product of the sport—noise. 

“It is recommended that courts be developed in clusters of 8, located at least 150 metres from residential areas,” the report notes, suggesting possible solutions may be found through “sound barriers such as berms, vegetation, and sound-deadening fencing can also be installed, reducing the required distance.”

Tension within the community had been growing since a public consultation meeting held on March 21st at which a number of residents raised their concerns about the loss of green space at Bonnerworth, in addition to their protests about the amount of space pickleball would be taking up.

On Tuesday evening a notice of motion by Town Ward Councillor Joy Lachica, innocently intended to ask City Staff to come back with a report to Council with additional information regarding alternative pickleball and tennis solutions prior to the work at Bonnerworth Park proceeds, was introduced.

Lachica outlined the significance of Bonnerworth as a pedestrian friendly area of the City just outside the downtown core and called into question the logic of building “tournament scale” pickleball courts in one of the most densely populated areas of the City.

“I encourage Council to listen to our constituents and our local residents,” Lachica said following the introduction of the motion. “Let's press pause, there's got to be a better alternative. Don't push anyone out. Let's get back to the table. In the future, let's refine this consultation process and find a scenario that not only meets our Pickleball needs, but our tennis baseball, skateboarding, cycling, but not to the exclusion of our local park users.”  

As the packed public gallery roared their approval, Councillor and Committee Chair, Andrew Beamer asked that they keep quiet and show their approval by waving their hands. This request would largely go unheeded as any semblance of decorum rapidly evaporated from the top down.

Councillors in favour of the motion spoke primarily to their feelings that there had been a lack of consultation in the community and Council oversight of the project. 

“I was gobsmacked by how much City Council was kept in the dark about our whole recreation program and how our taxpayer dollars were being spent,” Councillor Keith Riel said. “Some Councillors will state that City Council OK’d these plans—which is a blatant lie.”

While the fact of the matter is that Council did support the number of courts and the usage of Bonnerworth during an October 22nd Council Meeting, Riel seems to point to the fact that they had not had a say in the final plans.

“We left the decision making to un-elected senior City Staff and advisory groups,” he said. “Shame on Council for usurping their elected duties! My rallying cry going forward will be 'Not another Bonnerworth!’ No more will I entrust my duty as a City Councillor to Senior Staff and Advisory Committees to make decisions on behalf of the citizens of Peterborough!”

Councillor Bierk was insistent that his support for the motion should not be read as an indictment of pickleball. 

“Let’s not get it twisted: I’m not against pickleball,” he said before invoking the name of Leal’s wife, Karan, stating that she’s going to lend him a racket.

“That’s not fair,” Leal retorted immediately, looking visibly angered before stating, over Councillor Beamer’s attempt to remind him not to mention family members. 

“You crossed a line,” Leal added as Bierk continued speaking to the matter at hand.

“The thing about Councillor Lachica’s motion is that it's not anti-pickleball, it's not anti redevelopment at Bonnerworth,” Bierk said. 

“What it is saying is that, ‘Oh wow, we've seen the actual project tangibly and now we need to rethink it because it's way different than most of us expected that it would look like,” he added, noting that he apologizes for defending the project due to his exciting and misunderstanding of what it would entail. 

Following this, and without turning his microphone on so that it wasn’t picked up in the recording of the meeting, Leal told Bierk “you’re going to regret you ever said that” which prompted Bierk to call for a point of order. 

“I just heard you said I’m going to regret I ever said that,” Bierk said, addressing Leal as Beamer continued to remind Councillors that they should not make comments about family members or partners of their colleagues.

As debate continued, the crowd became more incensed at the views of Councillors who would not be supporting Lachica’s motion. 

Speaking later in the meeting, Leal would go on to state that he was “disturbed about some of the public runnings at our staff this evening.” 

“We have a very professional public service here in the City,” Leal said. “They provide us with the very best information available and it is my experience in the time that I’ve been here that they always are very transparent, providing necessary materials to make sound decisions.”

At one point, Leal read from a letter written by a constituent whose young son had developed a passion for pickleball, a moment which “changed his life and developed his confidence in a way [the community member] didn’t believe was possible.”  

Leal seemed to view this story as a bulwark against the notion that pickleball is the exclusive domain of Peterborough’s senior population, a fact which was not lost on the audience who met his recitation with a chorus of jeers including one man who stood up and yelled at Leal that he should recuse himself before promptly being removed from the gallery by security. 

As Beamer attempted to regain control of the room, Leal pushed on “with this very heart warming story”—a phrase which again drew jeers from the audience and a stern glare from Beamer.

Councillor Lachica would take some umbrage with the notion that support for this motion was somehow “taking a run at City staff.”

“I'm not sure who that was referring to,” she said. “I have nothing but gratitude to staff for the time this week and prior to developing, working together, to talk together and to share honest issues and I appreciated the information and the positive communication.”

“Anyway, I'm here to represent my constituents,” she added. “Let's have it somewhere else where it's not a residential highly populated area like Bonnerworth.”

An amendment which would ask staff to organize further public consultation within 45 days as well as consider ways of reducing the number of pickleball courts while increasing tennis courts, and also maintain the baseball diamond lost 4-7 while the original motion was defeated 3-8. 

Councillors Lachica, Bierk and Riel voted in favour of the original motion and the amendment with Councillor Haacke joining the affirmative on the amendment.

During voting on the motion technical difficulties caused a delay during which spectators began to play recordings of pickleball’s distinctive and maddening symphony of hard plastic on concrete on their phones loudly enough that Beamer, apparently with no sense of irony, had to ask them to please keep it down.

As the meeting was adjourned, community members yelled “shame” towards the Council horseshoe as they shuffled out while others merely muttered choice words under their breath.