Oct 29, 2009 - 04:20 AM

By Chris Hall

SCUGOG -- Scugog's civic leaders have agreed to endorse an ambitious renewal of the Port Perry Tennis Club, but have rejected a request to expand the Water Street facility.

A week after entertaining a request from club officials, who sought the Township's approval to apply for a government grant to upgrade the waterfront tennis club, Scugog councillors decided on Monday to support the endeavour.

At the Oct. 19 municipal committees meeting, club membership director Roy Wilson pitched a series of ambitious improvements to the tennis facility the club hopes to carry out in 2010, if it succeeds in securing a $150,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Included in the proposal put forward by Mr. Wilson, the club's membership director, were new light poles, additional lights, an improved electrical panel, a new bench area and court rehabilitation. According to Mr. Wilson, the cost for such work would run as much as $190,000, with the bulk of the funding coming through the Trillium grant.

In order to proceed with the grant application, however, the tennis club needed a letter of support from the Township, which owns the lands where the courts are located.

At Monday's council meeting, Scugog's civic leaders voted in favour of endorsing the club's funding applications -- but added a number of stipulations to their approval.

As recommended in a report penned by John Sellars, councillors rejected the tennis club's request for a 120-square-foot expansion to the eastern side of the facility to make room for an expanded court area and bench.

In his report, Mr. Sellars, the Township's director of parks, recreation and culture, suggested council deny the expansion request "given its proximity to (Lake Scugog) and any further intrusion into the naturalized area to the east of the courts."

He pointed out the facility fence is about 12 feet from the waterfront trail. If the proposed expansion was permitted, the fence would be about two or three feet from the trail, said Mr. Sellars.

Councillors also called on the club to install new signs highlighting the courts, club operation and public playing hours. The tennis club was also directed to look at alternatives to the dark windscreens which cloak the courts during playing season. At last week's committee meeting, councillors raised concerns about the screen, which prohibits passersby from seeing the courts or the lake.

Regional Councillor Jim McMillen also reiterated his disapproval with the courts' current location on Water Street.

"I don't really agree that the tennis courts are in the right places out there," he said. "If they're going to rebuilt it, they should move it."

Ward 4 Councillor Donovan Smith, however, called on his colleagues to support the club's effort to rejuvenate the facility.

"I don't foresee the tennis courts moving right away and if the facility is not playable as is, we should give them the opportunity to make it playable," said Coun. Smith.

The Port Perry Tennis Club has until Nov. 1 to file its application with the Ontario Trillium Foundation.