Dear Mr. Brown, Mr. Moffit, Mr. Gothard, Mr. D’Addario, and Mr. Ainslie,
I am writing on behalf of Guildwood Tennis Club, located in Elizabeth Simcoe Park. I understand that this park comes up for an assessment in 2025, and that a skate board installation is planned with work commencing in 2025. The tennis club, formerly known as Kiwaniwood Tennis Club, was built in the park in 1970 with funds jointly provided by the Guildwood Village Community Association, the Kiwanis Club, and the Borough of Scarborough. Our club was the first activity to bring people to the park, and we continue to be a thriving community tennis club with a membership of over 500 adults and juniors. We are supportive of new uses for Elizabeth Simcoe Park as long as they are carefully planned and take the interests of the other users of the park into consideration.
Three years ago, we were approved for a pathway from the parking lot to the courts. This pathway was proposed to make it safer for tennis players to get from the courts to their cars in the dark. Various routes were proposed, but the pathway project has not proceeded, as far as I understand. The club was informed of the routes, but has not been consulted or updated. Now the skate board installation has been announced, with planning and community consultation supposedly happening this fall. GTC would like to participate in the planning for several reasons.
First of all, if the pathway project is to be included, we would like some say in where the pathway enters the courts. In informal talks with Andrew Gothard, we discussed a fourth option for the pathway which makes a great deal of sense from the club’s perspective. We would like the opportunity to explain why.
Second, the experience of Charlottetown Tennis Club, following the installation of a skate board facility in their park, is that the skateboarders persist in using the tennis courts for skateboarding. After many frustrating years of dealing with cracking and bubbling courts, GTC underwent a very expensive resurfacing of our courts that finally appears to have been successful. It would be foolish to put the conditions of the courts at risk by making the lighted, beautiful smooth surface easily accessible to skateboarders. We ask that installation of an automatic, electronic gate lock on the tennis courts be included as part of the skate board installation, and that the button for turning on the lights be re-positioned inside the tennis courts from its current location outside the fence that allows access to everyone in the park. If the tennis players and skateboarders are to co-exist peacefully, it is important to try to maintain separation of these two activities.
Our third request relates to the general assessment of park facilities and the goals of GTC. Our maintenance and facilities team struggles to keep the weeds and grass under control on the perimeter of the courts. The best solution would be to dig a shallow trench outside the fence and install a weed barrier such as pavers. This would enable the mowing machine to get closer to the fence (ideal from a labor perspective) or at least make it easier to use a string trimmer. As well, the fence itself is in need of some loving care. Most of the wires that hold the fence to the bottom rail have broken, so the club uses zip ties which must be replaced annually. The mesh of the fence is also showing its age. We would hope that the condition of the fence and the perimeter of the courts will be included in the park assessment.
Providing more facilities to Elizabeth Simcoe Park is wonderful for the community. The fields are well-used for developmental soccer. The splash pad is a magnet for groups such as the Scarborough Girls and Boys Club, City of Toronto day camps, and neighborhood families. GTC has a vibrant program of after school lessons and summer tennis camps. A skate board facility will bring even more groups, and yet there is no permanent toilet in the area. GTC is the only community tennis club of its size in Scarborough that does not have washroom facilities! I understand that Elizabeth Simcoe Public School is getting an addition. The City should undertake to form a partnership with the school board to include a publicly accessible toilet as part of this addition. It would be much cheaper than a stand-alone building and could be made accessible in the winter for the benefit of the natural ice-rink users – another community activity that uses the park.
I have signed up to receive notices about the skate board facility community consultation through Mr. Ainslie’s newsletters. I look forward to hearing what is planned, and we wish to provide input to the city’s plans as they relate to our well-established tennis club. I sincerely hope that with careful planning, new activities can be added while continuing to support the existing very successful groups.
Respectfully yours,
Diane Lang, President of Guildwood Tennis Club