Park District of Oak Park hears requests for year-round ice rink at Ridgeland

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Most speakers at a public hearing about Ridgeland Common renovation want to see the rink open all year

Friday, February 10th, 2012 3:43 PM

Updated: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 2:55 PM

By Devin Rose

Staff Reporter

The most sought-after element in the planned Ridgeland Common renovation seemed to be an ice rink that would be useable all year long, according to speakers at an informational meeting Thursday night.

About 40 people attended the meeting at the Oak Park Conservatory, with many having to stand while they listened to a project update from the architects. Don McKay, of Nagle Hartray Architecture, showed slides that detailed the schematic design inside and outside the building.

Though none of the dozen speakers took issue with the design—many said they liked what they saw—most of them wanted the ice rink at the facility at Lake Street and Ridgeland Avenue to be used year-round. Currently, it's open from the end of September to the end of March. Park District Executive Director Gary Balling said synthetic turf is put in the rink's place after the annual ice show in March and the space is used for a sports camp in the summer.

Rosalind Giulietti said she's a parent of skaters, and Ridgeland Common is the only facility in the metropolitan area without year-round ice. Mike Sankowski, a hockey dad, said he thought having a rink open all year would make a big difference in the quality of players. The better they get, the longer they'll stay in the program, which will generate more revenue, he said.

And Liz Fischer, whose family has spent "hundreds of hours" at the ice rink, proposed a second sheet of ice in addition to one that's open all year. Fischer pointed out the health benefits of skating and the community atmosphere the rink creates. She said she knows families that spend $3,000 per player per season to play hockey at year-round facilities in other communities.

Balling said the rink was being constructed in a way that it could operate year-round, but no decision has been made about whether to keep it open. He did not have an estimate of how much more money that would add to the $23.5 million expected renovation cost. The plan does call for an expansion of the rink to make it a regulation size of 85-by-200 feet.

Balling said park district staff would be putting together an operations plan that will look at the best use of the rink area during the summer months. He said a request for a second rink and proposal another to enclose the park district's two pools were not within the scope of the project.

Approval of the schematic design is scheduled to be voted on at the park board's April 5 meeting.

Reader Comments

17 Comments - Add Your Comment

Comment Policy

David Kindler from Oak Park, Illinois Facebook Verified

Posted: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 4:23 PM

Sometimes people forget how popular ice skating is. More than 800 people came out to the Winter Fest a few weeks ago. They weren't there to play hockey or figure skate, they just came to skate. The hockey players, figure skaters and those taking lessons will always be the consistent users who make rinks a going concern, but there are a lot of casual users too who skate for fun and exercise.

Internet User

Posted: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 3:27 PM

Boy, it would be great to have wifi, free of course, at ridgeland. Can't tell you how many hours i have spent sitting there watching a kid skate...another competitive advantage that many rinks have...hockey parents are not all knuckle draggers like sister sarah palin

Skater

Posted: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 1:05 PM

And the Park District offers special School's Out Skates on holidays, like this coming President's Day, and throughout winter break.

Skater

Posted: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 1:02 PM

Yes, Family Skate requires children under 18 to be accompanied by an adult(who doesn't have to skate), but it is still time for kids to skate. Even without Family Skate there are still 6 and 1/4 hours available for Public Skating each weekend.

Mary Ellen Eads from Oak Park

Posted: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 1:01 PM

I agree-expanded pool and rink hours. I'd like to see a much higher percentage of our extraordinarily high property taxes go to improving the quality of and access to facilities which benefit Oak Parkers of all ages.

Done from Oak Park

Posted: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 12:01 PM

Not to mention a year-round pool. Probably get more use out of that than a year-round skating rink.

Doug Emde from Chicago

Posted: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 11:36 AM

Maybe if Oak Park governing bodies stopped pissing away tax dollars to pursue attacks on Constitutional rights and giveaways to financially unqualified so-called "developers" there would be plenty of money to build and run a competitive hockey program like many other suburban towns. Privatization of the facility could help, as well.

Jim Coughlin Facebook Verified

Posted: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 10:42 AM

I think you are wrong about the hours that those under 18 have for public skate. The family skate schedule requires that kids be accompanied by an adult. Still, it doesn't seem like there are enough hours set aside for those under 18. No open skating afterschool or on weekend mornings. Though that may be the norm at other rinks.

Skater

Posted: Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 10:22 AM

There are 7 hours of Public/Family skating at Ridgeland Common each weekend for people under 18.

Jim Coughlin Facebook Verified

Posted: Monday, February 13th, 2012 10:52 PM

The Ridgeland Common rink offers less than 5 hours per week of Public Skating for anyone under 18. There's no open skating for kids afterschool or on weekend mornings. It's all lessons, hockey and ice show. Would a year round rink be able to offer more hours of open skating? How do other rinks accomodate public skating?

Agree with reality check from OP

Posted: Monday, February 13th, 2012 9:31 PM

Maybe if there were year round ice, the PD would not seek to load each team with 16-17 kids per team (and having wait lists in some instances). Programs like Naperville, Franklin Park, Niles have 3-4, if not more, teams of, what, 11-12 kids each at each level (until Bantam) and those programs are doing pretty well looking at the NWHL standings. It is shameful that people like reality check think they have to flee to other programs because the PD doesn't care about being competitive.

Ray Emery from 1901 West Madison, Chicago

Posted: Monday, February 13th, 2012 9:10 PM

Yeah, what does the Park District have to do with the schools, Malcolm? Get a clue, man.

GeeWiz from Oak Park

Posted: Monday, February 13th, 2012 7:13 PM

Aaron Parchem, Olympic figure skater who happens to be black, grew up in Oak Park, and started out skating at Ridgeland Commons in the 1980s. Besides, since when is the Park District responsible for the achievement gap?

reality check from oak park

Posted: Monday, February 13th, 2012 4:52 PM

My three sons are black hockey players from Oak Park, currently playing in Oak Park. But we're leaving next season for one of those programs with year-round ice and a more competitive program. Maybe this is why hockey in OP appears to be more "favored by the whites"

Duh

Posted: Monday, February 13th, 2012 4:37 PM

these guys might get a little angry at you saying there are no black hockey players. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ice_hockey_players_of_black_African_descent

Malcolm please

Posted: Monday, February 13th, 2012 3:42 PM

Issuing bonds to fund. Not tax dollars. Even if they were, they are two different taxing bodies

Malcolm Kelly from Oak Park

Posted: Monday, February 13th, 2012 3:29 PM

This is absurd, I can't believe Oak Park is diverting funds away from closing the achievement gap for an activity so clearly favored by the whites.

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