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WEST MILFORD - New hockey rink on Germantown Road?
(by David M. Zimmer - Staff Writer - October 08, 2008)
WEST MILFORD - Two months after municipal officials set out to find a permanent home for the township roller hockey rink, the Recreation Department may have ended its search on Germantown Road. The new home is expected to boost both roller hockey and the ice hockey league.
At this past Wednesday’s Township Council meeting, Council President Joseph Smolinski said the tennis court area on Germantown Road near Echo Lake Field is the best location available with a flat, paved surface large enough for the 150-by-90 rink. Complete with 10-foot fences, ample space for spectators, and parking at Echo Lake Field, Smolinski said he felt good about the chances of placing the rink there, either with or without pavement.
Smolinski said that with the 10-percent addition to impervious space allowed by state Highlands Act regulations, the tennis courts could become a suitable permanent location with only minor site alterations. He added that the loss of the tennis courts would be made up for by the $500,000 in renovations to the Westbrook Tennis Courts on Nosenzo Pond Road.
Township Attorney Fred Semrau said the Board of Education, unlike the township, might be able to get relief from Highlands regulations since some leeway is allowed for construction of a facility for educational purposes. However, he said it takes at least six months to gain permit approval, and the project might not fit in with the Board of Education’s plans or the Highlands Act’s definition of educational purposes.
The rink, which was at the Hillcrest Community Center for two months each summer, was not rebuilt after roller hockey registration fell drastically in 2007, Connie Freet, a recreation department official, said. Currently, it is being stored in pieces at the community center on Macopin Road.
After township officials began considering the idea of leasing the unused roller hockey rink to Warwick, N.Y., Mayor Bettina Bieri and several local affiliates of West Milford Bears Hockey expressed a desire to not only keep the rink in town, but reconstruct it in a permanent location.
During the Township Council workshop on July 23, Mayor Bieri said that housing a township facility elsewhere would be an inconvenience for local residents. She added that keeping the township-owned rink in West Milford does not close the door to neighboring communities that want to lease it.
The president of the township’s youth hockey organization, Mark Crevina, added that a rink in West Milford would be more convenient for the township’s athletes, considering the time and money it takes to get to the nearest ice-skating rink, where the hourly rate is now around $410.
The roller hockey rink would be used to teach children the basics of skating and stick handling, and also to help explain more advanced strategies involving offensive and defensive positioning, saving valuable ice time to work on ice-specific skills, Crevina said. And although the township has not had an official roller hockey program in two years, he said the rink could be used all-year.
Smolinski added that the struggling West Milford roller hockey program would likely see an increase in registration if the much larger ice hockey program has a year-round facility where it can work on improving skills for free.
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