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Proposed Saanich clay courts won’t be world-class

Writer says the clay court proposal isn't large enough to attract a worldly audience, as proponents argue

The Cedar Hill Clay Court Society and its supporters want us to get excited about the prospect of an eight clay court tennis facility attracting “world-class professional” tennis tournaments to Saanich as a selling point to support their application for approval. In my view, the Society’s current proposal does not include anything realistic with regard to the infrastructure that is required to host such events.

Some obvious issues are the lack of sufficient: viewing stands, parking, washroom facilities and change rooms that would be attractive enough for an international tennis body to choose the proposed Cedar Hill court venue.

One just has to view some of the existing championship clay courts around the world to know that each must accommodate thousands of spectators.

Is Saanich possibly being led into an expensive and embarrassing white elephant, similar to what has been paraded out by a number of Vancouver Island ports that were constructed or upgraded to attract the cruise ship industry – a party that few, if any, have attended?

Bob Chong

Saanich