Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ice Arena Capacity topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commission weighs repairing versus redesigning Veterans Memorial ice arena as demand grows
Summary
Staff told the commission demand for ice time is rising—particularly women's hockey and youth programs—but the facility's layout, locker rooms and ADA access limit programming; commissioners and staff discussed whether to repair in place or pursue a larger redesign that could take 12 months or more to deliver.
Cameron Schmidt described the ice arena’s user groups and constraints, saying the rink hosts multiple high-school teams and women’s leagues and that demand has grown for tournaments and special events. "It was very much so created with one gender in mind between shared locker rooms or not enough space," Schmidt said, explaining why the current layout makes it difficult to accommodate coed and expanded programming.
Josh (Manager) and commissioners discussed options for moving forward. Staff emphasized that replacing major systems or reconfiguring the rink would carry long procurement and construction timelines and could mean the arena is unavailable for at least a season; one staffer said even with expedited decisions, reopening the arena could take on the order of 12 months or more. Commissioners asked staff for revenue projections both for maintaining current capacity and for scaled improvements; staff agreed to provide both gross revenue and net (revenue minus operating costs) projections and to continue coordinating scheduling with other rinks while decisions are pending.
