It appears Stratford’s new indoor tennis dome will be ready for use come October.
A soil-turning event was held at the Stratford Winter Tennis Club on Wednesday to mark the five-court air-supported dome facility that’s scheduled for completion this fall.
Stratford is one of four municipalities to receive funding to develop the courts through a partnership that involves Tennis Canada and Rogers.
Stratford Tennis Club President Stephen Fischer says the original plan was to have the courts in place by October of last year but he says a delay with the city’s building department in issuing a building permit meant it took longer than expected.
Martin Ritsma, Mayor of Stratford, says he recently spoke with city staff and learned that the delay was around fire safety and was connected to a pine spruce tree that’s in the vicinity of where the dome will be located.
Ritsma says the planning department is just doing their jobs and he believes a solution will be found so that the courts can be in place by early October.
Fischer says the dome will be up from early October to late April, with regular courts in place the rest of the time, and the interest and anticipation level of members for it is high.