State College Planning Commission last week received an overview of the final land development plans for new pool and racket facilities at Centre Hills Country Club.
The plan includes a new pool, pool house and tennis and pickle ball courts to be located at the western end of the private club’s property off of Country Club Road, replacing the existing facilities in the same area, Mark Toretti of project engineer PennTerra said at the Jan. 28 meeting.
Centre Hills in 2023 submitted a plan for similar facilities to be located at the eastern end of the property near Scenery Drive. That plan — which was met with opposition by neighbors concerned with light and noise pollution and which had a lighting variance denied— was not formally withdrawn, “though our understanding is it is unlikely the Country Club will move forward with it,” State College senior planner Daniel McCombie told StateCollege.com.
In addition to the new resort-style pool with lap lanes, the current plans for the $6 million renovation project call for an expanded pool deck and children’s splash area. A new pool house house will have changing rooms and a lifeguard station, with a basement for pool mechanical systems, and the existing pool house will be used for storage, Toretti said.
The existing snack shack will remain, but an expanded covered deck will be added.
Current tennis and pickleball courts will be replaced with two tennis and four pickleball courts. Two pickleball courts will be enclosed with side flaps that can be opened during warm weather during the first phase, with the other two enclosed in a second phase.
Lighting for the outdoor courts will be 22 feet high, which is lower than the current 30 feet. All other lighting for the renovated area will be no higher than 15 feet.
A small racket clubhouse will include restrooms and a small pro shop. Like the pool house, the racket clubhouse will use white vinyl siding, stone cladding and asphalt shingle roofing to complement existing structures on the club property.
The plans also include a new access driveway off of Country Club Road, and two new parking areas with 17 spaces each.
Stormwater will be managed by two infiltration basins with rain garden plantings.
NEIGHBORS VOICE CONCERNS
Owners of one neighboring home spoke at the meeting to voice their concerns about environmental impacts of the project and noise from the increased pickleball play.
Kate and Chris Staley reside on Penfield Road adjacent to the area of the property where the upgrades will occur and said they only learned about the plans when a friend showed them a brief article that appeared in The Centre County Gazette in October. Kate Staley said they have tried to be “good neighbors” to the club and have not complained about early-morning noise that may violate the borough noise ordinance.
“I was particularly upset about it because, as somebody who’s been a good neighbor to the golf course, I was shocked that they had not come forward and talked to us, any of us, at all,” she said. “I didn’t get a piece of mail, I didn’t get a call, I didn’t get a stop-by, nothing.”
She said she has since had conversations with the club’s project manager but she feels “like this is sort of late to the party in terms of being responsive.”
The Staleys said their property line is about 300 feet and their home about 350 feet from the planned pickleball courts. Kate Staley cited a noise assessment that recommends pickleball courts be at least 600 feet from a residence and have sound mitigation measures.
A self-described avid pickleball player herself, Kate Staley said she knows that the new pickleball facilities will increase membership and will be heavily used. Pickleball, she said, creates a “particularly annoying sound” — a recurring complaint around pickleball court facilities near residential areas in the region.
“It’s also called an impulsive sound, meaning that it’s a particular combination of the sound coming off the racket at about 900 pops per hour in multiple courts,” she said. “And, if you think about that times 12 to 14 hours in summer, and it may be 10 hours during the winter, that’s an incredible amount.”
Chris Staley added that the club is enclosing the two courts furthest from their home in the first phase, but enclosing those closer could act as an additional barrier to those that are open.
Toretti said that GIS data shows the Staleys property line is 490 feet from the planned courts and their home is 550 feet, adding that different assessments suggest different distances fr diminishing the noise.
The plans, he said, include a 9-foot tall fence with wind screens and sound absorption panels around the entire pickleball court area. He also noted that the borough previously approved pickleball courts at the State College YMCA, which are 150 to 200 feet from apartments across the street on Waupelani Drive.
Kate Staley suggested that if the country club would not place the courts elsewhere, it should enclose all of them fully to the ground.
But Planning Director Ed LeClear said the State College’s noise ordinance does not preemptively address pickleball sound and the borough could not mandate such measures.
“Unfortunately, this is one of those situations that will lead to being discussed in court potentially as far as what is unreasonable, etc.,” LeClear said. “So I think when it comes down to what is actionable, is going to be whether once it’s constructed, is this meeting violating the noise ordinance as it’s adopted right now?
“Those aren’t things that the planning commission or staff can require from the applicant. But clearly, if there ends up after it’s been constructed if we find that there are violations in the noise ordinance, then we’d have to take enforcement from there. This becomes more of a police issue than a planning department issue, so I don’t want to like speak for them on this. But I think that’s the course of action that we would have legally to prohibit that.”
Kate Staley said she also worried about trees already being removed from a copse where a pair of great horned owls have long been known to nest, and about how runoff issues may impact Slab Cabin Run conservation efforts.
The club is meeting stormwater management requirements and can’t be required to conduct a full environmental impact study because no endangered species are present LeClear said.
Toretti added that Centre Hills staff identified erosion issues along Slab Cabin run and worked with Trout Unlimited to secure grant funding to address them. The club, he said, donated $80,000 to the initiative and has helped maintain the plantings.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Planning Commission does not approve or deny projects, but Chair Ron Madrid said the public concern about potential noise will be noted in its review letter.
Toretti said he expects phase one construction will begin in June and be completed by May 2027. A second phase, which will include enclosure of the remaining two pickleball courts, is planned for 2030.
