Plagued by bad weather and in need of repairs, the Greenport ice skating rink may be facing retirement.
Village administrator Paul Pallas said at a work session last Thursday that the rink needs around $200,000 of repair work. The rink can still operate this season, he said, but beyond that, the village needs to upgrade the rink or put it aside until there’s a different plan.
“The concern, in addition to the cost, is the use,” he said. “If we make these changes, it’s not going to improve the uptime, if you will, of the ice rink. It may improve it a little but not significantly.”
Plus, between the new ice rink coming to Calverton and two rinks on the South Fork, the village is facing “significant competition.”
“It’s starting to become somewhat untenable from a financial standpoint at this stage,” he said. The rink brings in “almost no net income” and “very often on an annual basis, we’ve lost money.”
Trustee Mary Bess Phillips said in 2020, the rink brought in $54,000 and $23,000 in 2022. It didn’t operate in 2021. Mr. Pallas said it had been viable for around 12 days in 2022.
Trustee Julia Robins suggested considering “installing something more permanent” on Moores Lane as an alternative, especially with plans for the mini railroad in the park.
“There are ways to protect it from the sun without building an expensive, permanent indoor structure. I’ve seen them in other places,” Trustee Peter Clarke noted. He pointed out that residents and businesses have been irritated about the ice rink’s operation.
“My opinion, I would not spend more money on trying to run the ice rink in this current location, including even this year. I would save the money and create a longer term plan and dust off the parts and pieces and go with the future for the Moores Lane development that you have in mind,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an attractive site in the park in the winter.”
He added: “I don’t want to disappoint any families or upset any businesses or any children within the village that love it, but I think our money, especially our taxpayer money, would be better on something that could become a more permanent, future looking solution rather than to keep chasing something that at best in recent years has been rather a disappointment rather than an asset.”
Ms. Phillips emphasized that the village should gather input from the public before making a decision on the ice rink.
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