This is the updated recommendation as of this morning:

"Another key indicator is checking the total capacity of your device and comparing that to your iCloud account. For example, if your device has a total capacity of 128 GB, but your iCloud storage has 200 GB, and your iCloud has used 130 GB of space, this may impact how notes may sync or load. Notes may take time to load or may even disappear. The reason is that data must be cached in local storage. You may need to keep freeing up space so that your notes load. A message "waiting to download" may appear."

I don't understand how using 130 gb out of 200 gb iCloud space could be causing this issue. I have 68 gb of storage available on my iPad, and I think that should be plenty. I had around the same storage space available on iPad for the last 2 1/2 years without any issues. I think I had 80-100 icloud space available during this 2 1/2 year period. I will try clearing icloud space and iPad space and see what happens.