Idea for “Harborside” Rink Location Displayed before RTM Meeting

Monday night’s Representative Town Meeting at CMS had an added display in the entry hallway for the benefit of the RTM members as they arrived.

Peter Berg, a past long time member of the RTM set it up.

Mr. Berg is a strong proponent of a new skate rink, and his idea for “Harborside” is to build adjacent to the Island Beach Ferry Terminal on the site of the Town’s truck depot and the former teen center building.

Berg set up both a storyboard to try to refute the Town’s assertion that a rink can’t be built in this Flood Zone and shared a model of his proposed Harborside rink.

Part of his proposal is to renovate the existing rink for the Byram neighborhood and not pursue a new ballfield and access road in Eugene Morolot Memorial Park.

Berg said, “The two rink solution, purportedly is less costly by $6 to $10M than the flip.”

He also said, “Many RTM members seemed intrigued by the Harborside proposal. Others were asking good questions about the site, such as ‘Why didn’t the Task Force obtain professional advice about building in the floodplain’?”

Alex Popp, an RTM Member from Byram said,  “The $41M price tag is for the proposed Byram Hockey Rink only, but this project has grown into a total park redesign. Many elements aren’t included in the cost, especially a geothermal system, access road, repositioned Strazza Field, 500-800 truckloads of fill, two 200ft of retaining walls, and many PZ ‘enhancements.'”

Berg and his supporters say the total cost would probably approach $55-60M. They say Harborside Arena has something for everybody.

“A flood zone is not a valid reason to eliminate Harborside Arena. Look at our town, our most preferred properties are located near Long Island Sound. And recently, the Town of Greenwich just completed the construction of Cohen Eastern Greenwich Civic Center and started Old Greenwich School’s renovation, said Alex Popp on Tuesday.

The $41M request for the new version of the “Flip” from the Greenwich Department of Public Works will be before the RTM in their May Budget meeting.