NEWPORT BEACH : Law to Restrict Use of Basketball Courts

Basketball players will soon be required to leave public courts located near residential areas when evening rolls around.

The City Council on Monday night adopted a law that bans night-time basketball playing on courts within 300 feet of homes. Police will enforce the ban on a complaint basis from sunset or 7 p.m., whichever is later, until 8 a.m. The ordinance will take effect in four weeks.

The ban was proposed in response to complaints of late-night noise from residents who live near public courts. Although no city court is outfitted with lights, players have continued to shoot hoops by the light of street lamps, city officials say.

One Balboa Peninsula resident described the constant pounding noise from bouncing basketballs as so loud and annoying that even a pillow over his head couldn’t drown out the sound.

Originally, city staff proposed a sundown to 8 a.m. ban on basketball playing for all public courts throughout the city. But Councilman John C. Cox Jr. convinced his colleagues that a citywide ban was harsh and unfair, particularly when other sports, such as baseball, are allowed in public parks at night.

Cox thus proposed night playing be prohibited only on courts within 300 feet of homes.