Camas High School’s tennis court revamp gets environmental OK from City

The city of Camas has determined the Camas School District’s plan to revamp the Camas High School tennis courts — adding an all-weather dome and resurfacing the courts, installing new lights and improving an adjacent parking lot — will not adversely impact the environment.

The city issued its State Environmental Permit Agency (SEPA) determination of non-significance on Thursday, Jan. 2, and will close its 14-day comment period at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16.

In August 2024, Camas School Board officials approved a collaboration with the United States Tennis Association Pacific Northwest (USTA) organization to provide year-round tennis courts, open the facility to paying members of the community and provide what Camas School District Athletic Director Stephen Baranowski called a way to help even the playing field for the Camas High School girls tennis team.

“It’s a shame for the girls. The way our region participates (in tennis), the boys are a lot less impacted by weather,” Baranowski told The Post-Record in August 2024, adding that, because the boys tennis team starts its season in August and the girls team begins practicing in March, the state championship-winning girls tennis team often deals with a higher number of rained-out practices and meets while the boys tennis team tends to have nicer weather during their practices and meets.

The partnership will allow the USTA to operate a year-round community tennis facility at the courts and promote the sport of tennis to the greater Camas community.

In exchange for the use of the Camas High courts, USTA will build a dome around the eight outdoor courts to protect them from rain, wind, snow and other natural elements; resurface the courts with the same surface material used at the U.S. Open; provide lighting and nets; and operate a community tennis facility that gives preference to student-athletes but also opens the courts to the community.

In the City’s SEPA determination, the Camas School District notes that the proposed dome will have a maximum height of around 40 feet. The report also stated that the lighting “will be installed and shielded to minimize dispersion and control any potential offsite impacts” and that the intensity of the new lights “will be kept at a level to assure safety on the site, but will meet all applicable city of Camas light shielding and glare reductions.”

According to the school district, a traffic study conducted by Lancaster Mobley in September 2024, showed that the enclosed courts would likely add 56 weekday vehicle trips to the site, which is located off Southeast 15th Street, near Camas High School, on school district property. The report added that none of the nearby transportation facilities were “expected to experience significant site trip impacts from this proposal.”

For more information, visit the City’s SEPA determination page. To read more coverage of the tennis court remodeling plans, visit The Post-Record at camaspostrecord.com/news/2024/aug/15/a-grand-slam-camas-school-district-partners-with-u-s-tennis-association-to-open-local-year-round-tennis-center.

The public can comment on the SEPA decision by sending an email to communitydevelopment@cityofcamas.us or by mailing comments to Camas Planning Manager Robert Maul, Community Development Department, 616 N.E. Fourth Ave., Camas, WA 98607.