A proposed clay court tennis facility at the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre, designed to host international competitions, is facing a backlash from community members angry at the possibility of losing community land.
The Cedar Hill Clay Tennis Court Society has spent nearly two years going door-to-door and attending Saanich committee meetings to garner support for its development of eight private clay tennis courts. The new courts would be built behind the recreation centre, on a field that now features two baseball diamonds.
“We’re the only city of our size in Canada not to have a facility like this,” said John Miller, the president of the society. “It’s really unusual.”
Miller, an avid tennis player and an organizer of local tennis tournaments, said southern Vancouver Island has the perfect climate to play tennis year-round and the region needs to take advantage of that for the tennis community to grow.
The society wants the courts to be built with a mixture of private and public funds. Miller said the finished project, including fully lit courts and a player pavilion, would cost $1.3 million. Of that, $350,000 could come from Saanich in the form of a $250,000 interest-free loan, paid back over five years, and a $100,000 grant.
The facility’s operating costs would be covered by a yearly membership.
Close to 70 people packed the Seniors Wing of the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre on Tuesday night to voice their concerns.
At one point, Miller’s presentation about the tennis courts was interrupted by jeers, while two members of the audience shouted at each other during the question-and-answer period.
Residents accused Miller of not taking the time to discuss the proposal with other community groups, keeping them out of the loop.
“[Saanich is] giving them a piece of property that’s larger than the space the recreation centre currently takes up now,” said Lana Burns, a resident and member of the Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
Burns said the proposed courts would take away valuable space from dog walkers and children and interfere with the restoration of nearby Bowker Creek.
Former Saanich councillor Carol Pickup, who spoke at the meeting, described the idea of giving away public land and supplying funding as unbelievable.
However, Doug Henderson, director of the Saanich parks and recreation department, said the proposal could benefit the community.
“The land there is currently underused. Only one of the [baseball] diamonds can be used by adults,” Henderson said. “If the plan were to go ahead, it would take the pressure off the waiting lists we have for the indoor [tennis] courts.”
Henderson said municipal funding is not unusual for projects of this size, with soccer fields and squash courts the common recipients.
To help promote the courts in the community, the society has offered 1,500 hours of free public use as well as a donation to the Bowker Creek initiative.
The proposal is expected to go before Saanich council on June 10. [Update: The proposal will go before council at a later date, TBA].
