ROTHENBERG: We Need to Move Forward Now with the Plan to Replace Hamill Rink

Submitted by Joe Rothenberg, Greenwich

Some vocal opposition has arisen to the Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink Replacement Project, and it’s important that our town – and our elected representatives on the RTM – hear from their fellow residents who support the project in advance of the RTM meeting on Tuesday at which the opposition have asked the RTM to revoke the “Municipal Improvement” status duly and rightfully granted to the project by the Planning & Zoning Commission.

I’m an alumnus of Greenwich Public Schools who grew up skating at Hamill Rink and playing baseball at Strazza Field (adjacent to the rink), and I’m now the father of three boys who use Hamill Rink regularly – two as members of Greenwich Cardinals Youth Hockey and one in the town’s learn-to-play program. Our family makes Greenwich our home and we all – kids and parents – regularly use the rink. I’m also, for the sake of disclosure, a member of the Board of Greenwich Cardinals Youth Hockey, though I’m writing here in my personal capacity and not on behalf of the organization.

I’d like to address what people have been calling “the flip,” which seems to currently be the main element of opposition to the rink replacement project. While I’ve heard questions about other issues like parking and traffic, the flip seems to be the biggest point of contention (of note, the other issues have been addressed in various studies and surveys with associated materials provided to our RTM members). I encourage every RTM member who will vote on this vital, necessary project to visit and walk the site, and to review the many internal and third-party studies, renderings, surveys and architectural plans made available by the Rink Committee. The park currently consists of a parking lot, a rink, a baseball diamond next to the rink and a memorial grove. When we talk about “the flip”, we are talking about building a new rink where the baseball diamond is currently (next to where the current rink stands) solely so that the current rink can continue serving the community during construction of the new rink. The parking lot and the memorial grove will remain in the same place, and the rink and baseball diamond will flip locations. That’s it. That’s the big, bad, dreaded “flip”. Nobody is adding a new element to the park (other than a walking path, which is a benefit), and nobody is taking anything away.

The reason why the flip is necessary is twofold: no alternative sites are suitable, and rebuilding the rink in its exact current location would mean not having a skating rink open in Greenwich for at least 2 years. The current plan is the only path forward.

The Rink Committee identified numerous alternative sites for a new or even temporary rink, and none of those sites were found suitable (a report has been provided to every RTM member detailing that study) – so it was decided that it would be best to keep the rink in its current location in the park. The Rink Committee also surveyed the public, and the response overwhelmingly supported keeping the rink in the park – i.e., doing the flip. This has been going on for many years – these are not new issues, and they’re not issues that haven’t been examined and addressed in due course.

The opposition has recently proposed that we rebuild the rink in its exact current location, so we wouldn’t flip the rink and the baseball diamond – but that’s not a reasonable nor workable proposal. To do so would mean first closing and demolishing the existing rink, and not having a skating rink in Greenwich for at least two years to account for demolition and then construction of the new facility – that’s at least two years with no open skating, no lessons for our kids and adults, no figure skating, no youth hockey and no high school hockey in Greenwich.

The most recent missive from the rink opponents, sent by email to residents Sunday night in response to the many emails being sent to RTM members by their constituents who are – righteously – angered and upset by the opposition to this vital project, proposed a “temporary rink” during construction of the new building. It’s just the latest ever-evolving argument put forward to oppose to this project, and it doesn’t hold water. First of all, as with all of the other options, this idea has already been proposed and examined in detail by the Rink Committee. This isn’t a new idea, it’s been examined in detail, over the many years that our local officials have been working on replacing Hamill Rink. For what it’s worth I don’t even know how a temporary rink could possibly be an effective solution, I can’t imagine how all our various programs, including the many organized hockey games at the youth and high school level, could effectively function at a makeshift, temporary ice surface. In addition to the Rink Committee not finding a suitable way to get a temporary rink done, the public was surveyed on this exact topic and overwhelmingly supported the current plan over the idea of putting a temporary rink elsewhere during construction. A temporary rink isn’t a viable option and pursuing it only serves to significantly delay this project, which has been going on for many years and is finally ready to move forward.

Hamill is home to three Greenwich High School hockey teams – girls’ varsity and boys’ junior varsity and varsity – as well as Greenwich Cardinals Youth Hockey. The rink also hosts various learn-to-skate and learn-to-play programs and rents significant ice time to Greenwich Skating Club for their teams to practice and play games. Two years (or more) with no rink in town means those programs all shut down operations for two years (or more). That is totally unacceptable and unfair to the hundreds of children who will be impacted yet have no voice in this discussion. There’s no other option for those programs – rinks in neighboring towns are overcrowded already with other programs and teams, so there’s no ice time to be had. And even if there was, the burden on our town’s families would be immense. Just to give one example, my kids are on the ice 3-5 days a week at Hamill Rink, and for us – a two-working parent household – to do that in another town, with jobs and other activities and traffic and distance to deal with, would frankly be impossible. Many of our community’s families don’t have the means – financially or schedule-wise – to make that work; it very simply means that our kids cannot skate and play hockey for at least two years. And no high school hockey! How can we not have a girls and boys’ high school hockey program for two years, simply because a small group opposes building a rink in the same park where the existing rink is located, but in another open space so that the existing rink can continue to serve our community while the replacement facility is built? We need to put the idea of rebuilding the rink in its current spot in the park to rest. It’s simply not a viable option.

I understand not everyone is happy with both the plan to build a new rink next to the current rink, but here we are. It’s never possible to make everyone happy, but everything that the small group of objectors have problems with here has in fact been addressed. At some point people need to understand that they may not be getting exactly what they want, but that’s just how progress happens.

Rink users aren’t getting everything they want either. We all agree we need to replace Hamill Rink though, and we have a viable plan – after years of deliberation and study – to make that happen.

Are we a town that takes care of its residents and its children, or are we not? The rink project and its success are what’s most important and everyone – every single RTM member – needs to keep that in mind. Continue voicing your concerns, that’s a vital part of the democratic process! But do not deprive us of what we’re telling you we need, and what’s been planned and approved. Everyone needs to keep in mind that this isn’t the same situation as closing a baseball, soccer or football field, or a tennis court or even a gymnasium. Our town has a number of those. We have one rink – that’s it. Closing Hamill Rink means no skating, no hockey. Period.

The flip IS the rink replacement project; to oppose the flip – after years of studies and deliberations and efforts find sites and to craft a plan that enhances every aspect of the existing park – is to oppose the rink replacement project.

This project has been stripped down to its most basic required elements in a good faith effort to address previous opposition concerns – for example, the snack bar and pro shop have been eliminated and seating capacity has been lowered (significantly below what’s offered even at the current Hamill Rink). The rink project as currently proceeding is a very basic recreational facility providing the bare minimum required – a functioning ice rink which is up to Code.

But the project has also been designed to improve every aspect of the existing park, not just the rink – the memorial grove will be improved and enhanced, the parking lot will be updated, the ball field will be increased to regulation size and batters will no longer be facing directly into the sun, a drop-off area will be built in front of the rink to alleviate any traffic buildup when skaters and players are being dropped off, a walking path is being added to the park (there’s no walking path today, that’s an additional feature that’s being added), and the bathrooms at the rink will be accessible from the exterior, making them available to others using the park. The footprint of the new rink and surrounding hardscape will be smaller than the current rink, meaning green space in the park will increase. A park which consists of parking lot, a decrepit skating rink speeding to the end of its useful life, a non-regulation size baseball field with batters staring into the sun and a memorial grove will be turned into a park with a nicer parking lot, a beautiful new skating rink, an improved regulation-size baseball field situated so that batters aren’t staring into the sun and an improved memorial grove, all with a brand new walking path and drop-off area. That’s what all this controversy is about – making the existing park better in every way.

I should also note here that it’s my understanding that building a new rink in the exact location of the current rink instead of moving the rink over in the park would result in more blasting and a construction process which would be more intrusive to neighbors of the park.

We – the residents of Greenwich who use and love Hamill Rink – need this project to be completed expeditiously. It’s not a luxury; it’s a need for us. Hamill Rink is a feature this town has afforded its residents for over 50 years and upon which hundreds of our town’s children rely. It’s past time to let this project move forward, we simply cannot succumb to obstruction and delay. We implore our elected representatives, in the most strenuous terms, to please not obstruct this project, but instead please simply let the project continue in due course with your input, review and approval. Do not let the loud and previously-addressed objections of the few who have demonstrated they will never be happy with any plan stand in the way of our progress toward the goal we all seem to agree is necessary – building a new, functioning skating rink for our town and our children.