Diplomacy and money seem to have resolved a dispute over pickleball at one of the Inverness Tennis Club’s private courts, where a neighbor irate over the increasingly popular sport called the sheriff after a confrontation over parking.

The tennis club, which owns two courts, including the one outfitted for pickleball in First Valley, decided this week to move the game out of the neighborhood to appease residents who objected to the noise from the paddles—and the players.

The board voted on Sunday to spend $28,700 to resurface a crumbling court at the Cottages at Point Reyes Seashore, an inn a few miles west of downtown, which it says is not within earshot of any neighbors. The court will be turned into four pickleball courts, which are expected to be ready by the end of June. 

The First Valley court will remain open in the meantime, but with limited hours and other steps intended to reduce noise.

Half the funds for the new courts are expected to come from donations by club members, a quarter will come from the club’s reserves, and a quarter from the owners of the inn where the courts will be located.

“We’re trying to establish harmony and make it a win-win situation for everybody,” Terry Aleshire, a co-president of the club, told the Light.

The growing interest in pickleball has created schisms among neighbors and in the club. The issue is so sensitive that nearly everyone contacted by the Light declined to discuss it on the record.

The club had another potential solution that wouldn’t have cost it a dime: moving pickleball to its court on Vision Road, in Second Valley. Unlike the First Valley court, the Vision court is not adjacent to any houses. 

But the board bowed to the wishes of the club’s old-guard tennis players, who did not want the Vision court cluttered with the additional lines for pickleball. The Second Valley court has more space for tennis players to receive deep serves or to run after balls without crashing into a fence. Some members also argued that pickleball noise from the court would carry to houses on the mesa above it.

Hoping to avoid further division, the board voted 10-1 in favor of the move up Sir Francis Drake Boulevard without formally considering the option of simply moving pickleball to Vision Road. “It would have been split pretty much right down the middle,” Mr. Aleshire said.

Membership in the club, which was founded nearly a century ago, has surged since the pandemic, when pickleball—America’s fastest-growing sport—took off nationwide. It offered people a chance to get outside and a relief from the strictures of social distancing.  It’s easier to pick up than tennis and it tends to be more informal and social. 

Opposition to the First Valley games is far from universal among neighbors, many of whom also play the game and are happy to see the court being used.

Two weeks ago, the club’s other co-president, Bob Houghteling, conducted a peace-keeping mission in the neighborhood.

“I had an excellent afternoon yesterday, walking First Valley for almost two hours,” he wrote in a report to the board the next day. “I talked to 11 people in person, many of whom invited me into their homes. I dropped off another 20 letters on doorsteps. I walked up some steep streets and steps!”

The letter informed neighbors that the club was negotiating with property owners on a new pickleball location, requiring the use of quieter balls and encouraging players to purchase racquets that reduce noise. It also said it would restrict pickleball hours during the week and eliminate play on Sundays.

“If our negotiations are successful and the courts come to fruition and a good, working, long-term relationship is struck with the owners, we hope to get pickleball out of your lives,” the letter to the neighbors stated.

Mr. Houghteling delivered a rose to the most irate neighbor, who became embroiled in a dispute with players who parked near her gate. Last month, after their argument became heated, she called the sheriff and reported that she felt “intimidated” by the pickleballers.

Most of the neighbors Mr. Houghteling met with during his outreach campaign told him they loved pickleball but felt sorry for the neighbors who lived next door to the court.

This week, Mr. Houghteling posted a sign at the First Valley court, discouraging players from parking in the section of the road beyond the court. It stressed a few crucial points in capital letters, encouraging players to purchase a “SANCTIONED QUIET PADDLE.”

For their part, Andrew and Susan Howard, owners of the Cottages at Point Reyes Seashore, are happy to help resolve the situation. They were quick to agree when the club proposed the idea. 

“We have the tennis court and they have outgrown their other options,” Ms. Howard said.