Tennis club gets three year lease

Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

An idyllic setting on Okanagan Lake in Penticton, has long served as the home to a group of avid tennis players.

That will remain unchanged. This week, the Penticton council authorized a three year license for the Penticton Tennis Club, a nonprofit society, to continue using the property at 675 Marina Way.

“I think all the members are excited and now we are ready for our sign up,” said club vice president Kevin Berar.

The club has been around in some form or another since the 1800s. In 1908, the first actual location where they played was on Tennis Street in the city.

From there they moved to Skaha Lake. In 1975, the city said no more tennis courts at Skaha and they moved to the current location.

Then it was just swamp and marsh, which members on their own time transformed  into courts and a building.

Their name became the Penticton Yacht and Tennis Club, and members of all ages continuing playing at the site for years.

In 2011, when the 25 year lease came up with the provincial  government, the yacht club decided to walk away from the lease, claiming it was too expensive.

Members met with the council, and the decision was made it would be best for the tennis players to form a nonprofit.

Everything appeared to be in place, when members received a call from the city earlier this year, saying the courts should be public,  because it was the public was paying for them.

Members wrote up a proposal and also informed the city it wasn’t true that the public paid for the court, because it was members who founded the club and financially supported it.

We emailed a proposal, said Berar, they met with us and said we were right because it costs the city absolutely nothing to run these courts.

Now that the council has authorized the three year license for the club, members will have  exclusive use  of the four tennis courts at the site, as well as some use of the building.

Acting Mayor Garry Like said the current situation works best for all involved.

“It has always been private and they built the courts back in the day,” he said. “So when they approached us it seemed like a good opportunity.”

A sign up night for membership will take place from 5 to 9 p.m., Friday, April 19, at the tennis courts.

Currently ,members range in age from 7 to 92.

“It’s time this happened because we were getting a bit distressed that if it became public it would be torn apart,” said member Guy Macchia. “Now it is a place where there is camaraderie and where you can stay fit.
It helps keep me alive and there is always someone to play tennis with.”