Old Lyme ― The Zoning Commission is seeking a third opinion now that dueling engineers over the past two months have unleashed a barrage of conflicting information about how best to cut down on noise from aggressive pickleball play at the Old Lyme Country Club.

Members on Monday authorized land use coordinator and Zoning Enforcement Officer Eric Knapp to find an acoustical engineer to review reports from Bennett Brooks of Brooks Acoustics Corporation and Robert Unetich of Pickleball Sound Mitigation.

Neighbors on McCurdy Court have opposed the country club’s application to construct two pickleball courts on the property, a move that would push play 100 feet further away from where play has been taking place on the existing padel, a mix of tennis and squash, courts.

Brooks in his report and at Zoning Commission meetings has said moving pickleball further from the neighbors and installing a 12-foot mesh barrier fence to absorb noise would be an improvement.

“This proposal is an improvement in the quality of life for the neighbors, plain and simple,” he said.

The McCurdy Court neighbors commissioned the report from Unetich, a self-professed pickleball enthusiast with a background in electrical engineering. He has become a preeminent voice in the fight to keep noise levels below 50 decibels. He’s been widely quoted in media outlets like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR and CNN.

Those articles reveal a nationwide schism between people who live near pickleball courts and players who largely fall into the 55-plus age bracket. Those on the listening end describe the noise as bad enough to affect their mental and physical health.

Neighbor Michael Noti said his family can’t enjoy a game of cornhole in the backyard due to the non-stop pop of the lightweight, perforated pickleballs against hard paddles. Then there are the players’ voices, some of them uttering profanities through the neighborhood.

Unetich last month told the commission the noise from pickleball at Noti’s property line would be twice as loud as typical background noise even with a 12-foot barrier.

The pickleball expert identified Brooks as a capable acoustics engineer who was “lacking, perhaps, in pickleball experience.” He disputed Brooks’ assertion that the barrier would reduce noise to 35 decibels, which is below the 50-decibel threshold found in a typical office setting.

“We recommend pickleball not be done at this location,” Unetich said. “And that is my statement.”

Brooks, for his part, alleged Unetich used incorrect measurements when inputting data into a computer program to calculate noise levels. He also said Unetich is not a certified acoustical engineer nor a member of a professional noise control organization.

Unetich has been licensed as a professional engineer in Pennsylvania since 1976, according to that state’s records.

“You don’t have to be a civil engineer to be able to measure distances on a site plan,” Brooks said. “Any person who knows how to use a ruler can do that. Grade school math.”

Old Lyme Zoning Commission member Mike Miller said the application remedies some of the problems that currently must be addressed through the town’s noise ordinance, which is difficult to enforce.

“My concern is, if we deny the application, everything you're going through is just going to continue as it has been,” he said.

But Noti argued pickleball play shouldn’t be allowed now on the padel tennis courts. While Knapp, the zoning enforcement officer, disagreed, he told the commission it’s ultimately up to them to decide.

Knapp has opined the country club’s 2006 special permit allowing padel tennis extends to pickleball because the sports are similar, even though pickleball isn’t expressly allowed in the permit that was issued years before pickleball became popular.

The commission directed Knapp to secure a third-party review after a previous effort to find a consultant yielded a $3,000 quote from the Pennsylvania-based Geosonics firm, but no report in time for the commission’s February meeting.

Commission Chairman Paul Orzel said he was looking for “a unbiased, neutral expert to opine on both reports.”

The commission voted unanimously to defer discussion and a vote on the country club’s application until March 11 after they get another opinion.

e.eregan@theday.com