THUNDER BAY – A local tennis club has secured city approval to build a six-court bubble at Chapples Park, allowing the sport to again be played year-round.
City council voted to allow the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre to use its preferred site northwest of its existing clubhouse and nine outdoor courts Monday, bucking a recommendation from administration.
Mayor Bill Mauro welcomed the approval of the TBCTC's project, saying recreation facilities play an underrated role in community development.
“A lot of the community doesn’t see it this way, but I very much do," he said. "These are the social programs… that in my opinion build communities, that attract people to the city, that give people a reason to live here.”
“It’s 2022 – why in God’s name do we believe you can only play tennis or soccer four months a year?”
Staff had raised concerns putting the bubble in the TBCTC's preferred location would cut into plans for a proposed indoor turf centre, which in its original design would come within 20 metres of where the bubble will now sit.
Both buildings can physically fit in the space, but staff said council's decision will require modifying the site plan for the indoor turf complex, hampering its integration with surrounding playing fields and a toboggan hill, and blocking views of Mount McKay from the complex.
Those concerns were given short thrift by city councillors, who – with one exception – voted to allow the club to use the land it requested, directing staff to draft a formal agreement.
Administration had presented two alternative locations, first recommending the bubble go across Chapples Drive from the existing clubhouse and courts, which drew safety and operational objections from the Tennis Centre.
On Monday, administration presented a compromise, suggesting the city grant land directly south of the existing courts. The option was acceptable to the club, but would have raised costs by an estimated $230,000 as it required realigning a section of Chapples Drive to make room for the bubble.
That option would have improved drainage in the area, which borders on the Chapples Golf Course’s fourth hole, and avoided having to relocate a nearby sledding hill, which sits in the way of the option approved by council.
Councillors sought assurances that hill, which built up in recent years from soil excavated at Chapples, will be rebuilt, saying it’s become a popular family attraction in winter.
Several councillors said they couldn't justify asking the TBCTC to modify its project over impacts to an indoor turf complex that may not even end up being built – a possibility even Mauro, who has championed the facility, acknowledged.
Others said shifting recommendations and estimates (a $1 million estimate for Chapples Drive realignment was cut in half after a review, for example) had undermined their confidence in administration’s advice.
“It’s just very unnerving, because I’m not sure I trust the numbers – they’re changing too much, and it’s always coming out that we can't put it where Option 1 is, and administration doesn’t want it there,” said Coun. Mark Bentz, adding he was “not suggesting anything.”
Coun. Aldo Ruberto openly expressed his lack of faith in staff figures for road realignment, after project engineer Aaron Ward explained the city's review had found it could shorten the amount of road impacted from 300 to 150 metres.
“Believe me, it’s not just $500,000, because once they start digging, watch what happens,” Ruberto said.
Mayor Bill Mauro said staff were simply following existing direction from council, which has voted to establish an indoor turf facility at Chapples, but hasn’t been able to agree on what form the project should take, rejecting a $39 million tender last year over cost concerns.
The tennis community, without an indoor venue since the Confederation College bubble closed in 2018, had hoped the city would include courts in its indoor turf design, but council voted against that option in 2019 to shave costs off the project, instead allocating $1.5 million to help the TBCTC pursue a future solution.
It remains unlikely the bubble could be built this year, the Tennis Centre said, with construction likely beginning in the spring of 2023.
TBCTC vice-president Pasi Pinta told council Monday the club has raised close to enough to finance the build at its preferred location. The group has estimated costs at around $3.7 million, while the city pegged total costs higher at over $4.3 million, with HST, if construction is delayed until 2023.
Mauro dismissed as "crazy" concerns raised in an email from one resident that the bubble will create increased greenhouse gas emissions compared to a traditional building. The city's net zero emissions strategy is only “aspirational" and doesn't tie council's hands, the mayor said.
Coun. Andrew Foulds added the bubble won't be a city-run facility, in any case.
Foulds cast a solitary vote against an amendment to award the Tennis Centre its requested land rather than the parcel recommended by administration, saying he shared staff’s concerns about disrupting turf centre plans and overcrowding the site.
After that amendment passed, the main motion approving use of land at Chapples for the tennis bubble was passed unanimously, with Couns. Ch’ng, Oliver, and You absent.
