Construction Letter To Rink

We, the Board of Directors for the Nederland Youth Hockey Association, take this opportunity to express our positive support for the proposed new construction at the Town of Nederland Ice & Racquet Park. We appreciate the fact that the RINK board of directors is actively working on a solution that will allow all sports groups to grow in a sustainable, safe & healthy recreational environment.

NYHA will do everything that we can to work with RINK in a positive way to facilitate the timely construction of the new tennis courts (or ice rink). We will continue to be proactive in informing the youth hockey community regarding the progress with feasibility studies, grants, fundraising, and finally, construction. In fact, we have begun the process to set aside NYHA funds specifically for this project and are working to organize fundraising programs. We understand that everyone will need to work together to raise the matching funds for a GOCO grant.

We encourage RINK to move this process forward as quickly as possible so that we can in a responsible way minimize the exposure to unsafe ice conditions by our young players, coaches and visiting teams. We understand that a reasonable timeline (with regard to grant applications) puts this construction in 2013 and that we will have to endure another season of hazardous ice in 2012-2013. We expect RINK to do everything in its power to minimize the hazardous ice for the upcoming skating season.

The NYHA board is not in support of building a new ice rink. It is clear that the additional costs & steps associated with moving buildings, electric utilities, outdoor lights, dasher boards, player boxes & containment fencing are going to be a challenge . Certainly, these additional costs & steps will drive up the construction budget leading to a longer time line. Furthermore, we still share the vision with RINK of building a shade structure to further enhance the safety & quality of the ice early and late in the season. If a new rink is built in the north west corner of the site, there may not be enough room for foundation elements associated with a shade structure or roof. It only makes sense to keep the ice in the shade and build the new tennis courts on the sunny side of the park.

With separate sports areas, NYHA will plan to develop a summer roller hockey program to allow our young athletes to advance their skills and have a safe and affordable place to go in the summer. Parking can be an issue at the ice rink. As it stands, cars are parked on Indian Peak Drive during game days & special events. It would be a mistake to reduce the number of parking spots in this reconfiguration.

Congratulations on turning the corner to resolve these issues. The NYHA will do everything we can to be part of a positive, quick and funded resolution to a sustainable, safe and healthy Nederland Ice & Racquet Park!

Sincerely,

Last Updated on Wednesday, 09 May 2012 20:11

Town of Nederland Recreational Survey

Dear supporters of the Nederland Youth Hockey Association:

We are writing to encourage you to continue to show the NYHA your support by completing your Town of Nederland Recreational Survey, which came in the mail last week, and includes a password for filling it out on line. It only takes a few minutes to complete, and as a bonus, you’ll be eligible for a prize drawing for one of several exciting prizes, including a season’s pass to Eldora!

The main goal we hope to achieve is: to have a FIXED design at the Town Ice Rink and Tennis park, before the start of next year's hockey season. This means that a cement curb would be installed around the north edge of the ice rink so that the water does not leak out, like it does consistently with the current design. The tennis courts would remain, as the park is for both skating and tennis.

The main reasons why: #1-SAFETY. This leaking water causes the ice to be broken and unstable, leading to very unsafe conditions for our hockey players, figure skaters, and visiting recreational skaters. One of our coaches was injured so badly this season that he incurred several stitches on his face. We believe that it is irresponsible to expose our skaters to serious injury when a simple fix exists. #2-The RINK was designed for Kids. Our hockey teams are growing each year, our players are getting better, and our program is ready to progress from a local school program to a traveling league! Yet we can't move forward with our program if we remain limited by our physical structure.

What you can DO:

1. Complete your survey by April 20 at www.rrcinfo.com/ned; or call 303-396-1606 to request a paper survey.
2. In the comment box of the survey type or write, "I support a FIXED design at the Town Ice Rink & Tennis park it order to make the ice safe and the park sustainable. This needs to be done as soon as possible."

Thank you for your continued support,

The Nederland Youth Hockey Association Board and coaches

Last Updated on Friday, 13 April 2012 18:34

Letter From Tim Murphy

Challenges & Changes at the Town of Nederland Ice Rink & Tennis Park.

I’m not writing this to be critical of volunteers that work at the park or that sit on any board. I’m writing this letter for the simple reason that many people are concerned with the sustainability and safety issues at our town park. At some point, we have to step back and ask, “are we doing everything we can to overcome these challenges and is this really the best that we can do”? I’ve been part of this park from the very beginning and I know we can do better to sustain our park and protect the kids that skate there! In my opinion, 5 to 10 years is too long to fix the park.

Now that we have all had a chance to read the less than accurate tennis article in the April 5th Mountain Ear, let’s look at the facts regarding the Nederland Ice & Racquet Park. This is a good time to look at the facts & photos as your Town of Nederland Recreational Survey is on line and active for one more day. Go to www.rrcinfo.com/ned or call 303-396-1606 to request an access code. You have until April 20th to get it filled out. This is your town park and your vote of encouragement is needed on this survey to make the park sustainable and safe right now. The three tennis champions should be commended for all their hard work but at the end of the day, you have to be honest with the community regarding facts, problems and the challenges with having tennis & ice share the same playing surface.

Before construction of the Ice Rink & Tennis park, everyone knew that this “tennis rebuilt to ice design” was an untested experiment and all agreed that it could be changed if this system failed. After five years of trying to make it work, this design continues to fail and I believe it’s time to make some very simple changes. Last year, the R.I.N.K. board of directors voted 7 to 1 to adopt a FIXED design and to stop the twice a year reconfiguration of the park due to sustainability and safety concerns. After pressure from the tennis community, the board approved a time line that requires the construction of a ~$1.5M roof before the park can be changed. As regular guests and users of the ice rink, your vote of support is needed on this survey in order to move forward now. Use these words in the comment areas on the survey to make the message clear & consistent, “I support a FIXED design at the Town Ice Rink & Tennis park in order to make the ice safe and the park sustainable. This needs to be done as soon as possible”.

No one is talking about eliminating tennis or the multi-use element of our park. With this new FIXED DESIGN, there would still be three tennis courts (see courts drawing below). Two full size courts and one smaller “Quick Start” court geared toward younger & older tennis players in our community. The United States Tennis Association is promoting the Quick Start courts to make it easier for kids to get started. The “K” in R.I.N.K. stands for KIDS! Racquets and Ice for Nederland Kids. It only makes sense to promote a more kid friendly tennis park that is safer & easier to manage with less moving parts.

It’s not true that, “they have developed a non-damaging method to quickly dismantle and reassemble the boards”. Every year the fiberglass dasher boards get worn down and strung about in the process of reconstruction (see transition photo below). They will not last long enough with this system and it will cost $100,000 to replace the boards with new.

Also not true, “They also solved the leaky north side by engineering a gasket that seals the entire length during ice season” The fact is, the gasket is fragile, inconsistent and the water runs down hill (due to sloped concrete needed for tennis drainage) and water leaks out when ice is made. Yes, the gasket expands and does a better job at holding low levels of water during the warmth of March. In the sub freezing temperatures of Nov, Dec & Jan, the gasket is stiff & it leaks like a dripping faucet preventing solid ice from forming along the north side (see ice photo). Even during the winter solstice when the sun is at the lowest angle, solid ice could not be made and skaters were injured (see stitches photo). This failed gasket system is obviously having a negative impact on recreational skaters and our youth hockey program. Your support on the survey is needed so changes can happen sooner rather then later. Pushing the wheels of change to move forward with a fixed design with a curb to hold the water in.

This is not Ice against Tennis. Everyone knows that there is a place for both skating & tennis at our park. This is about making adjustments to create a sustainable and safe park for both user groups. It would be inappropriate to continue to allow the tennis community (20 season passes not the 80 reported in the paper) to trump the ice community (226 ice rink season passes) with a self focused agenda. We need to FIX the park to make it safe for everyone. Yes, it’s uncomfortable to look into the morning & evening sun when playing hockey or tennis when oriented east to west. It’s inappropriate to expose our youth hockey kids & recreational skaters to serious injuries when there is a simple fix.

Now, we have one day left to fill out the Recreational Survey. Let’s be clear that we can not ignore the facts and that we can not embrace the ideas that everything is easy, fun and just fine at the park. Claims that tennis will be dead in Nederland (if the courts are played east to west) are unfounded and exaggerated. Let us not stand by and watch a system that depends on a small group of volunteers to rebuild the ice rink every November. To rebuild our rink on time and to be ready for the short skating season year in and year out.

Remember the #1 answer in the recreational survey back in 1999 was to build a community ice rink! Now, let’s take a few minutes and vote again and let the TOWN & RINK know that it’s time for it to be sustainable and safe for everyone. Act now, take a few minutes and fill out your survey…. “I support a FIXED design at the Town Ice Rink & Tennis park in order to make the ice safe and the park sustainable. This needs to be done as soon as possible”.

Talk to the people who know, the Nederland Youth Hockey Association team managers & coaches, the Nederland Curling Club board of directors, the Nederland Ice Rink managers & rink attendants and the R.I.N.K. board of directors. It’s not a time to take lightly that the rink is fun to rebuild every 6 months. It’s a time to act & talking about a serious sustainability & safety issue and the simple solution to fix the ice rink!

Thank you,

Tim Murphy

R.I.N.K. founder

Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 April 2012 21:19