Thunder Bay soccer group eyes Chapples playfield

Members of Thunder Bay soccer and tennis groups who want to transform the Chapples playfield area spoke to city council about their plans at a meeting Monday night.

The soccer group wants to re-develop the park, and turn all of the baseball diamonds into soccer fields.

Soccer Northwest said about 5,000 people play the sport in the city, and there aren't enough fields.

However, the association did not contact any baseball leagues to get their opinion of converting the fields.

Iain Angus and other councillors expressed concern that research wasnt done on whichbaseball fields were being used now. There was some chatter through the social media platform Twitter how of some of the fields at Chapples are in good shape, and ball players don't want to lose them.

"The reality is that the organizations that use those fields are going to find out about it tonight, that you have this great plan for this area, Angus said.

A study is currently in the works by city staff that looks at how many playing fields there are in the city, and how often they are used.

The city is also grappling with the idea that it will likely have to do millions in work to bring the fields back to good playable condition.

Currently Chapples is plagued by drainage issues, due to swampy ground in the area. A recent snowand rainfall has rendered the Chapples main field for soccer virtually unusable.

Tennis group wants indoor courts

Meanwhile, the Thunder Bay Tennis Centre wants to move its courts inside, so members can play year-round.The club's courts are booked, and they need more space.

Club president Mark Piovesana said the best spot for the centre is near the current facility at Chapples park.

"We want to start kids young and we want to be competitive at a provincial level. We're just not able to do that with the court time that we have, he said.

"We certainly want to encourage the widespread participation of tennis."

Jamie Grieve, the tennis pro at Thunder Bay Tennis Centre, agreed there are not enough courts to meet the demand.

"One of the things that we see is our mens night was full."

Thunder Bay administration willprepare a report detailing the feasibility of the two proposals. That report will be tabled later this year.