GREENWICH — A committee and its architectural staff is continuous to refine plans for a brand new ice rink within the west finish of Greenwich.
The Rink Person Committee was established this spring to think about choices to interchange the antiquated Dorothy Hamill Rink, which continues to be operational and just lately re-opened for the season. The committee has been contemplating 5 potential choices for a brand new rink at the side of an structure agency employed by the city, SLAM Collaborative.
The choices differ within the placement and configuration of the ice facility whereas sustaining its location on the similar website on Sue Merz Means off Western Junior Freeway. A baseball subject, which doesn’t meet regulation dimension as a result of a shortened outfield, can also be situated there.
In response to the chairman of the rink committee, Invoice Drake, members are transferring towards a call on placement and scheduling.
“The committee hasn’t voted to approve any of these choices but formally. Most committee members favor possibility ‘A’ — taking the rink and the ball subject, and swapping them one for the opposite, adjoining to one another,” Drake stated.
The benefit for that resolution, Drake stated, is to make sure folks can preserve skating with out interruptions whereas the brand new rink is constructed. The present facility is 50 years outdated, and whereas inefficient to function, nonetheless capabilities. “It’s a development observe that’s routine. You may preserve the outdated rink in operation whereas the brand new one’s being constructed, so that you don’t flip away tons of and 1000’s of individuals,” stated Drake, who can also be a member of the Board of Estimate and Taxation.
Drake stated the method was four-fold: a feasibility research, preliminary design, last design and development, sometimes a four-year course of with separate funding allocations alongside the best way. The primary two steps have been budgeted, whereas the funding for the later steps haven’t but been allotted.
The general price of the brand new rink is predicted to be within the $17 million vary. The aim at this level, Drake stated, was for the brand new rink to be up and working within the fall of 2025.
“Two years of planning, two years of development,” Drake summarized.
Changing the ball subject will probably be “a lot cheaper,” Drake stated, and the brand new facility will meet laws with an extended outfield. “It will likely be a greater facility,” he stated.
The rink committee meets month-to-month with conferences open to the general public. The following assembly is scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 13 at City Corridor.
The rink was in-built 1971 and later named after a famend Greenwich skater, Olympian medalist Dorothy Hamill. City leaders say the present facility is long gone its service life, and the brand new facility will probably be “able to serving city customers for the many years to return.”
