In addition to the vote in favor of the school speed zone camera program, the Representative Town Meeting on Monday voted to approve the Hamill Rink Municipal Improvement after two groups of Greenwich property owners referred the MI to the RTM.
The proposal is to “flip” locations of the existing rink with the adjacent ballfield.
The RTM vote on Item 31 was 159 yes, 32 no, and 13 abstentions.
The rink project still needs final site plan approval from Planning & Zoning Commission who approved the MI but issued a long list of conditions on the preliminary site plan approval in March.
(Greenwich P&Z Approves MI for Hamill Rink Flip 2.0 Despite Concerns about Site Disturbance March 20, 2026)
A year earlier the RTM voted against an MI for a similar flip proposal.
Since then, a new task force was formed. They studied possible locations on town owned property again recommended Eugene Morlot Park.
The revised flip shifts the new Dorothy Hamill Ice Rink closer to and parallel to Western Jr Hwy.
Once the new facility is up and running, the old rink will be demolished to make room for a new Sal Strazza baseball field, plus walking paths.
Also, an access road through the park was added to connect Western Jr Hwy to Sherman Ave.
The price tag estimated to be $41 million, though in a recent BOC meeting several people commented that the cost might be closer to $50 million.
Committees reports
RTM Public Works chair Cheryl Moss said her committee along with Land Use and Legislative & Rules had a joint meeting to consider two MI referrals.
“Everyone in the room agrees the Dorothy Hamill Rink must be replaced,” she said, adding, “What is before the RTM tonight is whether this particular redesign of an entire neighborhood park meets the standard that P&Z itself has set and, be in the best interest of the greatest number of residents, and be consistent with the POCD.”
The first referral was signed by 10 residents and challenges the MI based on the consistency with the POCD.
Moss said her committee had heard that the communities most impacted – Putnam Green and McKinney Terrace – had not been invited to engage with the task force, that plans were hard to find on the town website, public hearings weren’t well advertised, and a key P&Z condition requiring street level 3D renderings had not been met. Further that a bird’s eye views had only been shared four days prior to the joint meeting.
Moss relayed concerns of a the first referral group stating, “This is a comprehensive redesign of Morlot Park, moving every major element, leveling the site with 11,000 cubic yards of fill, adding nearly 400 ft of retaining walls, creating a new entrance road, and increasing impervious surface throughout. That fill alone means roughly 1,000 heavy truck trips throughout school zone already managing 40 buses a day.”
The second referral group included Peter Berg, former Land Use committee chair and 22 year RTM members, who said the process had been flawed.
Mr. Berg and his co-signers favored a design they referred to as Harborside Arena that would result in two rinks: one at 100 Arch Street by Greenwich Harbor, and a refurbished one in the existing rink location.
Moss said Berg claimed his two-rink proposal would cost $16 million less than the flip, but was ignored and never mentioned in the task force final report, and that a pedestrian safety concern cited against the Arch Street site turned turned out to be wrong because records show no accidents at that crosswalk.
Moss said both referral presenters noted that back in 2022, build-in-place concept plans exist and were presented to P&Z.
(New Hamill Rink to Be Rebuilt on Existing Footprint at Morlot Park in Byram Feb 3, 2022)
“Site testing is done. The budget was approved. They argued that the RTM could move just as quickly on an alternative path without another task force and without starting over,” Moss said.
Moss said Greenwich Superintendent of Building Construction & Maintenance Luigi Romano represented the Town, stating that the task force had made a genuine effort to address the RTM’s concerns from the first rejection, and the new task force was more diverse and included RTM appointees, BNA member and an accessibility representative.
She said Romano’s position on behalf of the town was that the design itself responded to feedback, the new access road improves emergency vehicle routing, green space is centralized around the ballfield, and the veterans grove gains accessible parking nearby. Further that building in place would not result in meaningful savings because similar amounts of site work were already required. As for the missing renderings, Moss said Romano explained that required design funds that require MI approval – “a sequencing problem, not a dodge.”
Lastly, Moss said Romano had warned further delay carries real costs to ice time, project momentum and would potentially delay other capital projects.
Moss’s Public Works Committee voted 10-0-0 in favor.
Scott Kalb from the Finance Committee said his committee was impressed with the new access road, playground, ballfield and plans to plant 70 new trees and voted to approve: 12-0-0.
James Waters from the Budget Overview Committee said they voted 9-2-1 to approve the MI a reversal of their vote a year earlier.
Sandy Harris, Land Use chair said her committee’s vote was 11-1-0.
Myra Klockenbrink from the Parks & Rink committee said her committee voted 9-0-3 in favor.
Kip Bergweger of L&R voted on legal order 10-0-0 and on merits 5-3-2.
During Monday’s RTM debate representatives of the two distinct groups of referrers Mr. Berg and Ms von Brachel were each awarded 5 minutes.
Berg described skaters and taxpayers as “suckers.” He said his Harborside arena proposal would build an ice rink at the vacated Teen Center building and renovate the existing one.
“Greenwich gets two rinks and saves $16 million,” he said. “The Hamill task force report says the flip is the lowest cost option. Clearly that is not true.”
“Instead they recommended a higher cost plan that will worsen traffic congestion and price out many Greenwich families.”
He said the task force disqualified 100 Arch Street based on pedestrians safety ground without asking police for accident data, and disqualified it on flooding grounds, and yet at the Arch Street task force hearing earlier Monday evening the First Selectman recommended a ground level restaurant in the vacated teen center building.
Granoff rendering presented at Arch Street task force hearing on June 15, 2026
“There was no comment about flooding and no concern about pedestrians safety,” Berg said. “You should be outraged. I am outraged.”
Lucy von Brachel, from the second group of referrers, said lost in the debate about ice time and budgets were POCD guiding principles including #1 that says character and sense of place are at the core of planning and policy, with the goal of protecting and preserving those elements.
“A 30% larger rink, out of place architecture, new road, full regrading of property and a net loss of tree canopy and park land in one of our densest neighborhoods conflicts with this in every way,” von Brachel said.
She noted POCD guiding principal #3 calls for increasing buffers between institutional and residential uses, specifically calling out parking lots and athletic facilities. “This plan moves both closer to property lines and to more residents than today.”
She noted guiding principal #4 describes landscape and natural environment as core components of the town’s image and identity and talks about capitalizing on opportunities to develop additional parkland in areas that lack access.
“This plan flattens the landscape with fill and makes more of the dedicated open space there unusable for passive recreation,” von Brachel added.
She said POCD objective 6.3 calls for balancing institutional needs with those of surrounding neighborhoods. “That balance was not struck. Neighbors and all other park users are bearing all of the impact to avoid a temporary inconvenience to rink users.”
She said Objective 4.1 encourages use of existing footprints. “Building in place is not a fringe idea. It is what our own town plan calls for. The options was dismissed because a temporary rink was estimated at $3 million, an amount I believe this body would have supported.”
She noted some P&Z conditions on the site plan reflect POCD conflicts, and conditions placed on last year’s MI by P&Z had yet to be been met.
“I’m asking members of this body to consider not only this application but the long term impact of your decision on Byram,” von Brachel added. “If more compromises are proposed that further encroach on baseball, passive recreation or the memorial grove, please stand for those most burdened by this plan.”
During public comment, Mark Fichtel said the RTM’s role was to protect taxpayers.
“To my chagrin and embarrassment I find myself part of an RTM that is going to pass a spending plan for $41 million whose proponents talk about it costing $50 million or more.”
“By letting the MI stand and the flip to go forward, RTM is falling for the oldest con in the world. This is a bait-and-switch and has been since the minute the task was formed to find the best place for a new rink and who violated its charter by presenting much the same flip that the RTM voted down 17 months ago, but at more than twice the price.”
Fichtel said calling the project the “Hamill Rink” promoted a fiction, since so much other work will be done on the park.
First Selectman Fred Camillo spoke in favor of the rink, noting the Selectmen voted to approve the MI unanimously as did the P&Z commission.
“The task force that came on the back of the rink committee held 38 public meetings, two public hearings and everything is on the website. There has not been a more transparent and more vetted project in the past 50 years than this rink. And it’s not just a rink. It is a brand new baseball field – the Sal Strazza memorial field and an enhanced memorial grove, which is way overdue.”
Karen Fassuliotis urged the RTM to reject the rink MI.
“When this body voted to adopt the POCD, you made a promise to residents. You promised that growth and development would be guided by thoughtful planning. You promised to protect open space. You promised to preserve neighborhood character and to look for solutions that minimize environmental impact.”
“Once we establish that public parkland can be converted because it’s convenient, we create a precedent that will not be limited to Hamill Rink,” she added.
Steph Cowie from the rink task force and D8 RTM member, said, “There has been extensive outreach, meeting with all rink users, RTM, BNA, Byram neighbors and community leaders. We received hundreds of letters in support of this site.”
She said the POCD was indeed a dominant factor in the task force evaluation of the sites and that P&Z unanimously approved the MI status and advanced the preliminary application.
“The MI approval is based on no new use. This was a cobbled together site,” Cowie said. “Now it is the first time holistically, Eugene Morlot Park will be truly accessible to people of all abilities and ages, creating POCD guiding principle #1 an even greater sense of place.”
“This project is about finally delivering a safe, modern gathering space for our children, families, veterans, athletes and residents of all abilities in Byram and across Greenwich in showing that every part of town matters and deserves investment.”
Alex Popp said the task force had just one member of 9 with land use experience, and that person had voted no. He said P&Z had asked the task force to reach out to neighbors including McKinney Terrace.
“What does Byram get out of this $50 or maybe $60 million project? We get an access road that will split the park in half,” Popp said, going on to warn that with the proposed positioning of the new ball field, home run balls will either land in the parking lot or in the memorial grove of trees that are supposed to be protected forever.
The primary proponent for the application was DPW commissioner Jim Michel, who noted the BET approved funding for the rink project.
He said DPW staff had worked closely with the Dept of Parks & Rec, Selectmen’s office, the Hamill Rink task force and the public over the last year and a half to make revisions to the original plan.
He promised to continue to seek public input throughout the final design process over the next several months and plan to break ground on the project some time in 2027.
The RTM vote on item 31 passed: 159 yes, 32 no and 13 abstentions.
See also:
At RTM, School Speed Cameras Greenlighted in Split Vote: 100 Yes, 60 No
June 16, 2026