The local tennis centre could get up to $1.5-million of city dollars for an inflatable dome at Chapples Park.
A memo from Mayor Bill Mauro recommends they provide “the potential” for that money, along with removing indoor tennis from the first stage of the $30-million indoor turf facility.
It also asks Council to consider an “alternate solution” for indoor tennis.
The mayor says Councillors need to decide quickly whether to include tennis in the initial phase of the project, because they have until November 12th to apply for federal funding for the turf facility.
The memo says if the city doesn’t include indoor tennis in the first stage of the facility, it will save around $600,000 in engineering and design work.
The potential funding for a dome would hinge on “total project funding,” a review of the business plan for the dome, and would still need to be approved in the city’s budget.
The search for an indoor turf facility was spurred on following the collapse of the Sports Dome on the CLE Grounds in a November 2016 snowstorm.
It threw the soccer community into chaos since both men’s and women’s clubs were forced to cancel their seasons because there was no place to play.
In 2017, local soccer clubs were given a glimmer of hope with news Soccer Northwest was trying to get a temporary facility set up at a vacant sawmill on Maureen Street but that fell through because of a legal roadblock.
Fast forward to early 2018, when city council started the process by voting to build such a complex, which was kicked into high gear after city administration began working behind the scenes to make a reality at Chapples Park.
After an appeal by local tennis officials, Council committed to including six tennis courts in the project, but then reversed their decision.
Mayor Mauro has made building the turf facility a top priority throwing his full support behind it.
