GREENWICH — Roger Sherman Baldwin Park has emerged as the top contender to host a temporary ice rink as an independent study confirms the immense deficit of available ice time in the region.
While a new permanent municipal ice rink is built in Byram, the town plans to set up a temporary rink for two winters.
Every proposed site “has complications,” but “we are furthering our exploration of Roger Sherman,” Luigi Romano, interim superintendent of building construction and maintenance, said at the Wednesday meeting of the Rink User Committee for Design and Planning.
But there is no timeframe for settling on a location for the temporary rink.
“It depends on a variety of factors,” Romano said. “We’re exploring the electrical capabilities of the site and to see if the size works and if it reflects with the schedule at Parks and Recreation. We need to go back to the skating club and work on the coordination on timing.”
Romano said he believed “we can make it work” when it comes to electricity at the park, which is located downtown along Greenwich Harbor.
The temporary ice rink must be approved before any additional work can be done on the new rink, said Bill Drake, chair of the rink committee.
“The town is still cooking that stew,” Drake said.
The Dorothy Hamill Rink in Byram is more than 50 years old and is slated for replacement. Under the current plan, the rink would be demolished and a new one built in the same spot. That process is expected to take at least two years.
The town’s hockey and ice skating programs would continue uniterrupted at the temporary rink during construction.
The meeting mostly focused on a report completed by Greenwich High School student Mack Fulton and Darien High School student Graham Kreppein on behalf of the Greenwich Athletic Foundation to identfy other rinks in the area that could also be used for the town’s programs.
After reaching out to more than 30 rinks in the area, the students found major obstacles to finding available ice time.
“Not a single rink contacted has enough available sheets of ice to sustain any of our town’s programs,” the report said. “This is why building a new rink or renovating Hamill is so urgent as there are not enough sheets of ice available for the greatly growing hickey programs in Greenwich.”
Drake sent the report to all committee members, and the students spoke at the meeting about the high demand for ice time.
“The conclusions are not surprising,” Drake said. “It’s what we’ve heard before, but with a different level of thoroughness in getting it all written down. … This is very useful for an important project to the town and the thousands of (rink) users.”
Using early ice time at one of Stamford’s rink has been discussed, but the reality of taking kids to rinks at 5 a.m. has not met with much support.
“The town of Greenwich has already determined that kids shouldn’t be going to school that early,” said Brent Brower, a committee member representing the Greenwich Skating Club. “You can’t send an athletic team to skate at 5 in the morning when the school has changed opening times because it has been determined it’s not fair to go school too early (because) kids don’t learn well. I think the early morning stuff is really out of the question.”
The ideal time would be between 4 and 10 p.m., Brower said.
And with the many rink users — the boys and girls varsity hockey teams, recreational skaters looking for open time and the Greenwich Skating School — Drake said he didn’t want to parcel out ice time “in dribs and drabs” at multiple locations across different municipalities.
Other committee members agreed that would not be a good approach, which means the temporary ice rink remains the best option.
“This is my job,” Brower said. “I am constantly looking for additional ice time, and I’m not finding any. Hopefully this (report) tells people that we’re not finding it. You can find ice anywhere you need at 11 at night, but it doesn’t fit the needs of participants in Greenwich.”
kborsuk@greenwichtime.com