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Town & Country tennis facility must be preserved or replaced

Editor: On the evening of Jan.

Editor:

On the evening of Jan. 17, I, along with a standing-room only crowd of 100 or more, attended a meeting at the Delta Town & Country Inn wherein representatives of Gateway Casinos and the City of Delta met to discuss Gateway’s plan to demolish the current indoor tennis facility on the property.

The Gateway representatives presented the timeline of their development and advised that they hope to be preparing the land for construction on this site by September of this year. The $70-million casino has yet to be approved but is to be put to public hearing this spring. The Application to rezone the land for the casino was received in city hall last November.

The tennis community in Delta is going to lose its only indoor facility in eight months, having only received notice of demolition two months ago. Clearly the Gateway casino proposal is moving through the channels at city hall on the fast track.

Representatives of Delta at the meeting advised there are no plans to have Gateway either preserve the existing tennis facility or to have Gateway fund the construction of a replacement facility at another location in Delta.

In the absence of our local government requiring Gateway to preserve or provide funds to rebuild the indoor tennis courts, I must ask the question: Do casino funds trump healthy and active living in Delta?  Do community values of recreation and exercise account for nothing anymore? Is Delta so blinded by the prospect of gambling revenues that it is unprepared to protect and provide for the health and well-being of our citizens?

If so, this is a very sad commentary on our commitment to health and wellness. Surely we can do better.

In this discussion it is worth noting the cost to replace the current tennis facility is estimated to be $1.5 million. The cost to preserve it would be significantly less than that. The Gateway casino will cost approximately $70 million to build.

Delta expects to receive $5 million per year in gambling proceeds therefore is it not possible that between Gateway and Delta funds can be found to preserve or replace a highly utilized recreational facility?

Jane Hindmarch