For years, Prince George Tennis Club members have been waiting for an expansion or relocation of their existing facility. A move will finally happen and the timing, said club vice president Jim Condon, will work out perfectly.
By the start of the 2013 season, the PGTC should have eight new outdoor courts ready for use. The surfaces will be built on a parcel of land between the Prince George Golf and Curling Club's clubhouse and Pine Centre Mall.
While nobody at the tennis club would have complained about an earlier change in scenery, Condon points out that the eight current courts have now reached an end-of-life stage. By next year, he said, they would have needed to be rebuilt anyhow.
"We couldn't resurface these again," Condon said of the courts, located at Recreation Place. "That would not help because the ground underneath has actually shifted to the point where you would have to dig up the courts and redo them from scratch anyway. We've got so much heaving happening that there would be no point. Courts 4, 5 and 3 are the worst. Court 1 doesn't look like it has cracks but it actually has hollow parts -- the ball will hit a spot and just doesn't bounce."
When the tennis club did its spring cleanup recently, a fire hose was used to rinse off the courts.
"The hose was just clean taking off the paint -- big chunks a foot long," Condon said.
The land on which the tennis courts sit has been rezoned for commercial use and is up for sale. Money from the transaction will be used for the construction of the new courts and upgrades to the clubhouse and curling rinks. The price tag for the work -- which will also be done with an eye toward the 2015 Canada Winter Games -- has been estimated at $1.6 million.
Members of the tennis club and golf club have already voted in favour of the tennis courts moving next to the clubhouse and sharing the facility.
From the tennis club's perspective, the eight new outdoor courts are being regarded as the first phase of the project. The plans eventually call for four of the courts to be enclosed and then for another two or three outdoor ones to be built.
Rick Barkowski, liaison between the tennis club and the city, said having indoor courts in two to five years is realistic. The idea of being able to hit baseline blasts in January has him excited.
"In the winter time or even during the rainy season -- because over the years Prince George has been getting wetter and wetter -- an indoor facility seems to make sense," Barkowski said. "And being able to go out and exercise and be amongst friends and have family come and play will be just fantastic."
The long-term vision is that other sporting groups would move their operations into the complex as well. Badminton is seen as a natural fit.
"This will be a really good change," Barkowski said. "It will bring a multi-sport facility setting where people can enjoy playing golf maybe in the morning and tennis in the afternoon and then in the winter, curling and hopefully in the future, badminton. It won't be a seasonal complex anymore. It will be sports for all seasons and all ages."
Barkowski said the tennis club is hoping to get L&M Engineering involved in the design of the new courts. IDL Projects, meanwhile, has already provided some quotes for the construction. Both companies are based in Prince George.
The surfacing of the courts will likely be done by Tomko Sports Systems of Vancouver. Tomko resurfaced the existing courts in 2006 at a cost of about $45,000.
