Indoor Need
Need for extending play – indoor and lighted facilities
In January of 2008 a report submitted to Park Board by a city wide committee of public court players recommended developing facilities for extended play, including lighted outdoor tennis courts and covered tennis courts. The reasons behind those recommendations were these:
Players desire to play year round, in all weather, and in the evening past sunset. Indoor facilities and lighted courts offer the only possibility to do that.
Presently the three lighted courts on CMHC land on Granville Island offer the only opportunity for extended play available in Vancouver, outside of the private country clubs. The steering committee that now carries on the work begun by the city wide public courts study group maintains that this is a lamentable short-coming for a city of Vancouver’s size. if one needs proof it is seen in the huge demand for court time, far greater than can be satisfied, at every public indoor facility in surrounding areas. This has recently been borne out by the Final Report of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation Indoor Tennis Feasibility Study, completed in March 2011.
Extended play facilities in Vancouver would be a source of revenue for the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. Certainly, in North Vancouver, the Grant Connell Tennis Centre has paid for itself, produced a positive cash flow, and is now being expanded.
Indoor Courts: Our wet climate prohibits outdoor play during a good portion of the year. That, together with the demand for evening play, and play beyond reach of the sun’s rays for those who must worry about UV exposure, make for an obvious need for indoor courts in Vancouver. There are three distinct models in other lower mainland municipalities. One can be seen in Burnaby and West Vancouver where the city enters into a partnership with private clubs. A second can be seen in Coquitlam , where “public” indoor courts are operated by a commercial business.
The third of these models is city owned and operated. The Grant Connell Tennis Centre in North Vancouver is the model that seems to have been most successful, if one is to judge by usage, demand for access, and financial good sense. The facility was built with $2.1 million shared by the tennis society, North Vancouver District, and a loan from the Heritage Society. The operations have been able to generate net incomes in the area of $85,000 per year to service the loan.
Vancouver Public Tennis, and the steering committee that has taken over the mantle of the city wide committee on Vancouver’s public courts, has posited that an indoor tennis facility of six to eight courts is what the city needs to adequately serve, and stimulate, the demand for weather independent tennis in Vancouver. However, any progress toward the establishment of public indoor tennis in Vancouver is applauded. As of this spring (2011), Park Board staff have recommended to move in the direction of establishing a pilot project for public indoor tennis. Location and number of courts is yet to be decided. However, the Indoor Tennis Feasibility Study has shown that there exists a need for over twenty indoor courts in Vancouver. More than one facility would be required to satisfy that demand. The sooner a start can be made with a facility of any reasonable size, the better.
Court lighting:
Lighting is the least expensive way of extending play, although during the rainy season, it is not as efficient as an indoor facility. The committee suggests the following courts should be looked at for possible lighting: Jericho Beach Park, Rupert Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, Andy Livingstone Park, Champlain Heights Park, Memorial South Park, Memorial West Park, and Strathcona Park.
Vancouver Public Tennis and the committee also support the idea that lights be pay-as-you go, by coin activated metering.
