THUNDER BAY – Efforts to bring a tennis bubble to Chapples Park may be ready to move forward after a city council decision Monday, but the project's backers say it’s now too late to push ahead with construction in 2022.
Council will vote Monday on a recommendation to allow the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre to use land directly south of the group's clubhouse and nine existing outdoor courts for its proposed six-court, air-supported structure.
The site is a compromise of sorts: city staff objected to the club’s preferred option northwest of the outdoor courts, saying it would interfere with plans for the city's proposed indoor turf centre, while the club balked at the city's preferred option, which would put the bubble across the road from the clubhouse and outdoor courts.
The compromise brings additional costs, however, requiring the city to realign Chapples Drive to make room for the bubble.
That will force a slight relocation of the fourth hole at the city-owned Chapples Golf Course, but will also help address a drainage issue in the area, said the city’s general manager of community services, Kelly Robertson.
Pasi Pinta, vice-president of the tennis centre, said the organization is happy with the proposed solution, as long as the city bears road realignment costs, as administration recommends.
That would see the city’s total contribution to the bubble rise to just over $2 million, or around 44 per cent of its total $4.55 million cost, according to city estimates. Council previously committed $1.5 million to the project, after removing tennis from its indoor turf complex plans.
It's a jump from the club’s initial $3.68 million estimate for a build in its preferred location.
A city analysis indicated building at either the city’s or the TBCTC’s preferred location would reduce costs by around $200,000.
Robertson noted the current estimates are rough and will be refined after geological and site surveys and detailed design work.
She acknowledged the new recommendation would expand city spending, but said there's an argument for the city picking up some site development costs. The site would have easier access to municipal services if the city had moved ahead as planned with the indoor turf complex, she said.
“Some of the site servicing costs that are associated with [the tennis bubble] might not have been as high as they are now if the city had proceeded with the proposed indoor sports facility, so that kind of raises the question, you know – should it be on the tennis centre to pay all of the site servicing costs?”
After the city removed tennis from the indoor turf design as a cost-saving measure, Pinta said the financial support is appreciated.
“The multi-turf facility as a project essentially became viable when tennis was dropped off from it,” he said. “Taking some of those savings and investing it into the tennis side of things… I think does represent a compromise of sorts, and an opportunity for a win-win.”
Despite earlier hopes construction could go ahead this year, Pinta now expects shovels won’t be in the ground until the spring of 2023.
“I think construction in 2022 is probably out of reach,” he said.
It's disappointing, but Pinta’s optimistic it’s just a bump on the road to restoring indoor tennis, which has been unavailable locally since the Confederation College bubble closed in 2018.
“We’ve been without any kind of an indoor tennis facility now going on four years, and even before that we were highly under-serviced,” he said. “It’s a long game – we have to be patient, we have to be appreciative of everyone who has stepped in to work with us, including the City of Thunder Bay.”
The biggest concern in pushing back project timelines was that the TBCTC could lose some of the $1.5 million it’s secured in provincial and federal funding, tied to completion deadlines in 2022 and 2023. Those agencies have so far indicated a willingness to be flexible, Pinta said.
The Tennis Centre says it has raised just over $3 million overall for the project so far, and expects to raise more once land is secured.
Before the agreement with the city is finalized, it also needs to win approval from the TBCTC’s roughly 500 members. Once that’s complete, it will allow the club to begin a local fundraising campaign in earnest, Pinta said.
Next steps will include putting the project to tender, detailed design, and securing building permits.
On the city’s end, Robertson said she expects public engagement and more refined cost estimates will be necessary before returning to council with a proposed final agreement. The city will also require the TBCTC to demonstrate they have full funding in place before work begins.
Note: An earlier version of this article put the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre's membership at 400. In fact, it is closer to 500, the organization says. TBnewswatch apologizes for the error.
