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Redmond narrows ice-rink plans: council favors medium-size option to limit urban renewal exposure
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Summary
Urban renewal staff presented two rink concepts — a large 'ribbon' requiring roughly $7 million in urban renewal plus a wider capital package, and a medium-size rink with about $5 million of urban renewal investment. Council favored pursuing the medium option and asked consultants to produce concept designs and cost refinements before spending.
Staff from urban renewal told the council that replacing Redmond's temporary rink presents two main paths: a large "ribbon" attraction (door #1) that would require a roughly $7,000,000 urban renewal investment and still leave a substantial funding gap for total project costs estimated near $10–11 million, or a medium-size, more conventional rink (door #2) that staff estimated would need about $5,000,000 of urban renewal commitment and better preserve urban renewal flexibility.
"If the ribbon is pursued...that is 64% of our resources, leaving 6% after that," a staff presenter said, outlining how a $7,000,000 investment would concentrate urban renewal resources and limit the agency's ability to respond to other opportunities. Staff noted historic allocations from urban renewal funds (roughly 36% to business resources, 16% to housing and smaller shares to infrastructure and parking).
On operating costs, staff reported the old temporary rink cost about $100,000 a year in general-fund support; a full-size ribbon could require annual operations and maintenance in the $400,000–$500,000 range, while a medium-size facility's O&M is likely to be in the $200,000–$300,000 range. Staff said O&M would be a general-fund expense and not an eligible urban-renewal expense.
Council and Duroc (the downtown urban renewal advisory group) members praised the community value of a family recreation facility but raised concerns about long-term operational subsidies and parking tradeoffs if the Centennial Parking Lot is used as the rink site. Staff confirmed potential site options: Centennial Parking Lot or using the current police-station parcel (which would require demolition and $~1,000,000 to convert to parking).
Several council members said they preferred examining a medium-size rink that could be designed for multiuse (roller-skating or summer events) to help offset operating costs. Staff will continue concept design work with consultants and return to council before any funding commitments, and urban renewal staff warned that a decision to invest heavily in a single facility would require reprioritizing other projects.
Next steps: consultants to prepare concept designs and cost estimates; staff to return to council for decisions before funds are committed.
