SEQUIM — The effort to erect an inflatable fieldhouse known as “The Bubble” to create indoor tennis courts has moved from Port Angeles to Sequim.
Allison Hastings, Peninsula Tennis Club president, said the club now awaits final action from the Sequim School Board on the club’s proposal to locate the 40-foot-high, 120-foot-by-296-foot structure over up to six tennis courts on the high school campus near the gymnasium.
If that proposal fails to hold air with school district leaders, the Peninsula Tennis Club may next approach the city of Sequim to build the facility over tennis courts.
Hastings said she already has contacted the city’s Public Works Department, which oversees city parks, to find if there is city park space for the Bubble, which is large enough to hold 240 spectators.
An effort to locate the structure in Port Angeles sputtered out.
The Bubble was donated in 2007 to the Clallam County YMCA by the U.S. Tennis Association in New Jersey for the cost of shipping.
The Peninsula Tennis Club had approached the YMCA about applying for the structure. The club was unable to apply for the structure since it is not a nonprofit organization.
The YMCA had agreed to operate it only if it were located at Erickson Park.
The Port Angeles City Council never approved the move. In May, city and YMCA officials were still discussing what to do with the white air-filled structure that is now stored in an airplane hangar at William R. Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles.
Money earmarked
Hastings said the club of about 100 members still has a $150,000 anonymous donation earmarked solely for indoor tennis to properly install the structure.
“The main thing with the Bubble is it just offers programs, not only with the high school, but kids’ tennis programs, kids’ tennis lessons, the U.S. Tennis Association and tennis leagues,” Hastings said.
“So much of our tennis is tied to the weather,” she said. “It’s not just the rain; it’s the wind, it’s the darkness.”
The structure comes with a lighting system that would allow tennis play at night.
Hastings said one section of the four-piece structure could be omitted to cut the structure’s size.
School Board
The School Board heard several Bubble supporters Tuesday night and hit the ball back into the district’s facilities review committee’s side of the court.
The committee, which includes district Superintendent Bill Bentley, had reviewed the proposal since December and had recommended that the board decline it.
The committee found that the structure would dominate the landscape of the campus, could attract vandalism and would not fit in with the overall campus that includes space shared by the high school, Helen Haller Elementary and Sequim Middle schools.
Board member Virginia O’Neil, a tennis player herself who wants more courts to play on, said the board sent the proposal back to the committee after hearing several compassionate tennis players of all ages voice support for the proposal.
“We felt we did not have enough information to make a decision,” O’Neil said.
The school district “has to take a very hard look at what our situation is,” she said.
School Board member Sarah Bedinger said she believes the district must review the matter in greater depth before a decision can be made.
“This group has the best interests of the students but needs to consider legal issues,” Bedinger said, adding that building codes also may need to be considered.
The club has $194,000 of about $228,000 needed to finance the $70,000 resurfacing of five courts, the addition of a sixth court and then covering them with the structure.
Hastings said she believes the Bubble would be worthwhile and well-used in Sequim.
“The proposal is not going to cost the school district any money,” Hastings said. “We would fund the whole project.”
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
