A plan to build eight clay tennis courts behind Cedar Hill Recreation Centre is expected to come before Saanich council later this summer.
But residents are invited to a meeting Tuesday (May 28) to take a look at changes to the original proposal.
Members from the Cedar Hill Clay Court Tennis Society will speak on plans to build eight clay courts, a 1,000-square-foot tennis pavilion and public seating atop the two existing ball diamonds and grass field.
John Miller, on behalf of the tennis society, told the News earlier this year its members “will put up the money to build and operate the facility and then give Saanich court time to the community for lessons.”
He equates the plan for a private facility to a community partnership model Saanich takes advantage of with soccer, lawn bowling and squash groups.
In a fall 2012 survey of Cedar Hill park users, the biggest piece of research done to date, 698 of the 901 respondents said they were in favour of a non-profit society to manage a clay court tennis facility with public access, at the Cedar Hill rec centre.
The survey did demonstrate that not everybody is in favour of more tennis courts.
John Schmuck, president of the Quadra-Cedar Hill Community Association, acknowledged there remains a lot of opposition in the community to the proposal. The association has acted as a facilitator in the consultation process between residents and the tennis society.
The meeting takes place on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the senior’s wing of the Cedar Hill rec centre (3220 Cedar Hill Rd.).
–with files from Travis Paterson
kslavin@saanichnews.com
