Longtime P.E.I. mayor resigns after a contentious vote for pickleball courts

Head of Victoria regional pickleball association Connie McCann holds a polymer paddle and ball at Central Park court in Victoria, B.C., on Thursday, April 28, 2022. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito)

KENSINGTON, P.E.I. -

A feud over proposed pickleball courts in Prince Edward Island has prompted a longtime mayor to throw in the towel.

Rowan Caseley says there was lots he still wanted to accomplish as mayor of Kensington, P.E.I., but he felt he had to resign Monday after the town council voted to build six pickleball courts Caseley says the community can't afford.

He was mayor for about 10 years and a councillor for five years before that.

"As mayor, one of the things I'm required to do is defend the decision of council, and I couldn't," Caseley said in an interview Wednesday. "It just went totally against my principles."

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He said his opposition is not meant as a critique of the local pickleball community, about a dozen of whom filled council chambers as the vote took place. The growing town simply has more pressing needs to tend to.

Pickleball is much like tennis, but players hit a hollow perforated plastic ball, rather than a rubber tennis ball. The balls make a resonant popping sound when players hit them with their rackets, and the noise from pickleball courts has irritated neighbours and drawn complaints across the country.

There are already several pickleball courts in Kensington, which is home to about 2,300 people, Caseley said. But at the urging of some councillors, the town put together a proposal for six new courts, a bathroom and a gravel parking lot, and submitted it to the 2023 Canada Games Legacy Fund, established after the province hosted the Games.

When the fund said it would cover just 55 per cent of the $500,000 price tag, Caseley said he and senior staff members recommended that council abandon the project.

But on Monday, Coun. Ivan Gallant put forward a motion to proceed with a scaled-down version of the project that would leave the town on the hook for roughly $20,000, said Geoff Baker, Kensington's chief administrative officer.

The motion passed 3-2. Caseley said he interpreted it as a vote of non-confidence.

Gallant is a member of the local pickleball community, though he denied urging fellow players to fill the chamber for the vote.

"Anybody in our community is eligible to come to our meetings, they're open to the public," Gallant said in an interview.

Caseley argued that even the scaled-down plan with the smaller price tag would still eat up staff time and operating costs. That time and money would be much better spent on projects to support the community's growing population, such as expanding its waste treatment system, the ex-mayor said.

"Staff are going to have to drop other things that were a higher priority to deal with this," he said. "It's not in the best interest of the residents, the taxpayers or the town of Kensington. It's a want and not a need."

Caseley said he wasn't yet sure what he would do with his new-found free time, but he has no interest in taking up pickleball.

"I'm 77 years old, so I'm probably just going to sit back and read books," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2024.

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