Tennis Yukon reached a lease agreement with the City of Whitehorse for the Mount McIntyre courts.

Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the agreement at city council on Monday.

Tennis Yukon president Stacy Lewis said the decision essentially makes the group manager of the Mount Mac courts.

"Rather than us being a sideline voice advocating for new wind screens or new surfacing, this now means that that's our responsibility, to take care of those things,”

Lewis said. "That's really, really exciting for us, and a great step in developing tennis in the Yukon and making sure that those courts are in good shape and going to last a long time.”

Tennis Yukon will pay $150 per year for the courts.

The agreement means Tennis Yukon will have to implement a user fee to gain access to the courts.

The cost of that user fee will have to be worked out with board members and will not be implemented until next summer, Lewis said.

She likened the fee to the cost of using the Canada Games Centre or Mount McIntyre ski trail system.

"The most reasonable way to do that is to have the users of the facility pay a small fee that goes into that maintenance fund; that'll be an adjustment for us here and an adjustment for the tennis community,” Lewis said.

"Part of us taking on this role is going to be managing the facility according to best practice, and that will be some sort of user pay model. That's going to be a big change for the community here, which has, up till now, been able to play for free whenever. But when the choice is between free and no maintenance or some sort of fee structure and the courts are maintained – there's not really any choice.”

She pointed to the number of courts that used to be available throughout the city.

Once upon a time, there were courts at F.H. Collins Secondary School, Vanier Catholic Secondary School and near the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport.

Because the city failed to maintain those courts, they had to be bulldozed, Lewis said, adding that the poor conditions of the courts repelled pro players and coaches from visiting the Yukon to hold clinics.

"We believe the city's made the right choice by recognizing that they're not really interested in running the courts and recognizing that we are very interested in running the courts. I think it's going to end up being a win-win for everyone, because the facility will be maintained properly and run reasonably and in a way that it will be around forever.”

The process of reaching the lease agreement has been three years in the making.

In 2008, Tennis Yukon had 25 members. That number grew each year to 100 members in 2011.

A group formed in September 2007 to figure out a plan to maintain the courts, Lewis explained.

The group realized there was no plan or budget item, even for simple maintenance such as fixing cracks in the courts or sweeping.

This lack of direction prompted volunteer efforts, Lewis said.

"That was a little bit alarming, and we suggested that it go in as a budget item, just like the parks or anything else that the city's in charge of. It went to council, but was below the line in the budget for '09 and 2010 and foreseeable future it was going to be below the line.

"In the past it was us doing what we could, in terms of clearing the courts and keeping them clean and putting up the wind screens, putting up the nets, taking that stuff down, taking care of it and trying to keep the courts in the best shape possible; but not having any formal role and not being in charge of the bigger maintenance issues.”

It has been a summer of progress for Tennis Yukon.

Before the lease agreement was reached, Tennis Yukon received a $15,000 recreation grant to resurface the Mount Mac courts.

The Community Development Fund (CDF) contributed $20,000 while Lotteries Yukon and Tennis Yukon each contributed $5,000 for the project, which totaled roughly $45,000.

This is all welcomed news for Lewis, who is constantly fighting tooth and nail to promote the sport in the territory.

"It's funny in that way, because a lot of times, the response you get from people is, ‘Tennis? Why tennis in the Yukon?'” Lewis said.

"And it just strikes me as such a strange thing, because it's a sport for all ages and it's a sport you can play your whole life, so it seems like a no-brainer for me, as something that a healthy community wants available.”

The lease agreement is a step in the right direction, she added.

"It's just a huge relief, because we've been in this no man's land of being the advocate and running all the programming and offering all the tennis options to people and trying to do what we could to take care of the courts, but not really being in charge of the courts – this is just going to make it so much better to go forward and have everybody's role clear and have our role clear.”