Submitted by Mark Fichtel, RTM district 4, whose opinion was submitted in his personal capacity
The First Selectman’s Rink Committee has released its report.
Its recommendation to build a new ice skating rink using the “flip” option should be rejected.
The committee has addressed almost none of the conditions P&Z placed on the project being approved once final site plans were completed.
The report claims that Byram residents are in favor of the “flip” option. That is not true. The Byram Neighborhood Association representative presented some ideas, and the Committee represents that such participation was a stamp of community approval.
As with earlier rink committee proposals the RTM rejected, this report confuses the desire to maintain an ice hockey program with creating a world-class arena. In the process, this recommendation would take a local park and neighborhood ice rink, turn the ice rink into a regional go-to destination, and thereby destroy the character of the Byram neighborhood that currently exists, which is exactly what P&Z said could not happen if a final approval to move forward was to be sought.
The First Selectman has suggested, and the report echoes, that a private-public partnership might be ideal. This report effectively kills that idea by asking private money to invest in a rink tucked away in the center of a residential neighborhood where naming opportunities are invisible, where construction cost estimates are only “rough order of magnitude,” and where there are no revenue or operating cost estimates.
Wings Arena, a new ice rink, has opened just across the Greenwich/ Stamford border. Serious negotiations should be held to explore the possibility that Wings could satisfy the needs of the Greenwich skating community, either in its current form, or if expanded.
Greenwich will have to make some serious spending decisions about its schools and facilities in the next few years. Our town record on accurately estimating such costs is abysmal, and we must do better in the future. This report, with its “Rough Order of Magnitude” warning about the construction cost estimates it provides, and its admission a consultant needs to be found and vetted, should be rejected until its omissions are corrected and undone work completed.
The Rink Committee report, for all its protestations of having explored every possible alternative to Morlot Park, should be seen for what it is: a report whose outcome was pre-ordained, with the cost numbers slanted to confirm the recommendation.
The problems with the report listed above are just the tip of the iceberg. I will issue another letter, with additional points, shortly.