After days of headlines featuring puns about thin ice, putting rink plans on ice and frosty receptions following the RTM’s overwhelming vote against the Town’s Hamill Rink Municipal Improvement featuring “the flip,” First Selectman Fred Camillo doubled down on his support for the flip at Thursday’s Board of Selectman meeting.
The flip is shorthand for building a new rink on the adjacent Strazza ball field, keeping the existing rink operating during construction, and finally building a new ball field where the rink is today.
Prior to the meeting, the 230-member RTM had been contacted via the group’s shared email address by hundreds of people. In days leading up to the meeting, the First Selectman had used the town’s civic alert system, webtrac address, and his Friday Community Connections e-blast to to urge residents them to contact the RTM members to vote in support of the flip.
Nevertheless they voted Tuesday against the rink MI.
After 40 people spoke, the vote was 52 Yes, 136 No and 6 Abstentions.
At Thursday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, during his First Selectman’s updates, Mr. Camillo said, “I want to make a statement to the thousands of people who reached out and are very frustrated with the process of, again, a delay in the rink project – I plan to put together some type of request to the BET to get a cost analysis.”
At Tuesday’s RTM meeting there were speakers who talked about wasted taxpayer money and criticism that rink estimates that came from an architect were not as reliable as ones from a professional engineer.
“There will be an independent study,” Camillo said. “There are really only two options: it’s only the flip or building in place.”
“As we already know, rebuilding in place will be a lot more expensive because of the ledge rock, and certainly disruptive to neighbors because it’s going to be blasting right in their back yard. We won’t be able to put any solar panels there because of the trees. The ADA compliance is going to be more expensive if we do it there. And we’ll have to shut down hockey and skating problems. And the flip would actually take care of that.”
“However,” the First Selectman doesn’t get everything he wants,” he said. “It’s the way our system is. It’s frustrating. Unfortunately, the delay is going to cost us two years, and more of a price tag. But people are very frustrated. Remember 84% of 3,000 respondents responded in favor of the flip, 138 emails went to P&Z in favor of the flip and only 6 against, and they had roughly around 350 emails to the RTM in favor and about 25 against.”
“We will get it done,” he said. “Every worthwhile project we’ve ever seen in this town has had significant opposition. Even Cos Cob Park and the civic center that’s going to open up in a few weeks had opposition right up to the end. And Tod’s Point in the mid 1940s, that failed three times at the RTM and the BET. Some BET members said it was too expensive, and a waste of money. How do those approvals look today? People remember getting the job done, not all the obstructions, and the constant the throwing things out in the middle of the road to see what can slow things down.”
Selectwoman Lauren Rabin said, “Yes you don’t always get what you want, or the BET doesn’t always get what you want, but the residents should. You all live here and pay taxes and have expectations, and the public support of the flip, it was disappointing to see the vote from my perspective and see people take the chance to puff up, pontificate, and in some ways bash our very dedicated town departments, like DPW and Parks & Rec, both of which report to you, Fred. That was disappointing. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan said she attended Tuesday’s RTM meeting via Zoom and praised participants for having been civil.
“The RTM has spoken,” Stone McGuigan said.
“The town wants a new rink. It wants a design and site plan decided through a robust and inclusive public process. Greenwich can do this, and it can do this without unnecessary delays.”
She brought up the the suggestion made Tuesday that a building committee be formed to replace the rink user committee.
Among the RTM members suggesting forming a new committee were Jane Weisbecker who recalled how in 2021 the RTM adopted a charter change requiring the seating of a building committee for school projects that need MI.
“District 9 requested that change and we don’t see any reason why a town project as complex and expensive as the rink should be treated any differently,” she said.
Ms Weisbecker said a new rink building committee would be comprised of 7-9 voting members including a member of the BET. Five to seven of the members would be nominated by the Selectmen and appointed by the RTM. The committee would also include ex officio non-voting members including a Selectperson, P&Z commissioner, DPW employee and RTM member.
Ms Stone McGuigan on Thursday said, “A rink committee, even one patterned after a school building committee, would not be the same as a building committee. All it would need to do is create a framework to get the town to an informed decision. It would not need to work with the state to qualify for state reimbursement. It is been suggested that a new rink committee could accomplish this in 12 months, but I’m optimistic it could do this in even less time.”
She said she was “all in” and willing to do whatever necessary to keep the construction of a new rink project on track.
See also:
Greenwich RTM Vote on Rink MI Fails: “Democracy in Action”
Jan 22, 2025