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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNPS - Cass Park Rink Project Rationale8. Youth Bureau — Update on Cass Park Rink: To: Neighborhood and Public Safety Committee From: Allen Green Director Jim Dalterio Recreation Facilities Director Re: Cass Park Rink Renovation — Background material Date: August 4, 2009 1. Project title: Cass Park Rink Renovation 2. Project description and location: The Cass Park Rink was built as an open -air facility that has served our community well as such for the past 37 years. The rink continues to be a vital asset to the City and surrounding communities. The 2007 -08 (Oct -Mar) Ice Rink season attracted 26,897 patrons to the park (an average of 192 people per day). This number does not include spectators who enjoy watching the rink activities or all of the other activities that take place within the rink during the "off' seasons (events, Cass Park Day Camp, inline hockey, etc). As the park moves forward and we continue to look to serve the evolving interests and needs of the public while attempting to proceed responsibly with current and future use of the park, we believe it is time to, remove and replace the rink floor, replace the refrigeration system, add two locker rooms with shower /restroom facilities, add a multi -use room and enclose the rink. The rink is utilized year round for a wide range of functions and has the potential to be employed on a far greater level if the proposed renovations are implemented. The Ice Rink season currently runs from mid - October through mid - March. "Sufferjets" roller -derby reserves the rink at least twice weekly starting in late March and finishing in early October. Youth Inline hockey has used the rink weekly from mid -April through late August and Cornell Inline hockey uses the rink from late August to early October. The Cass Park Day Camp utilizes the space from the first week in July through late August. The Youth Bureau hosts six roller - skating events throughout the summer. The rink is reserved by individuals and organizations for single -use events such as rabbit shows and kids concerts throughout the year. Reasons to pursue this project are simple: eventually the rink floor (steel piping cast in concrete) and refrigeration system will fail making the facility inoperable and the proposed renovations will greatly improve every facet of operation of the facility for the City of Ithaca and the region. The new refrigeration and lighting system would be much more energy efficient than what is currently in operation. Enclosing the rink would provide consistent and optimal conditions for ice making and use. Consistent conditions will enable us to maintain and attract new user groups who would sign season -long lease agreements. We would have the ability to extend the rink operating season which would allow us to create additional revenue. An issue for current contracting groups is that the beginning of our ice rink season does not coincide with the start of their seasons which results with the groups contracting with other area rinks. The primary request from contracting user groups is for enclosure of the rink. In the recent past, organizations such as Ithaca Youth Hockey Association (IYHA), Ithaca College and Ithaca High School (IHS) have reduced the amount of time contracted at Cass Park and have increased use of other area rinks because the Cass Park ice rink conditions are too dependent on the weather. There is no protection from the extreme cold that is common in our region nor is it possible to clear the fog from the ice when there is high humidity and warmer temperatures. The design stage of this project is currently in progress. While in design it has become evident that the project could be completed in phases if necessary. The project has three main components; refrigeration, addition and enclosure. These components could be arranged in a variety of ways to accommodate funding limitations while incrementally improving the infrastructure and operations of the Cass Park Ice Rink. Some of the construction options that have been discussed during the design stage have been... Phase 1. Refrigeration - Completion of this phase would allow the facility to operate as it has traditionally but with the security and energy efficiency of a new floor, refrigeration equipment, dasher - boards, lights and low E (emissivity) reflective ceiling. Removing the 50 inefficient 400w metal halide light fixtures and replacing them with fluorescent fixtures would be a desirable option as an energy conservation and cost saving measure. Phase 2. Addition - This phase would have the benefits of what was described in option 1 but with the vastly improved operational aspects of the additional locker rooms /restrooms, lobby space and multipurpose room. Phase 3. Enclosure - The enclosure would provide climate control to our patrons and would make the rink a much more versatile facility to host events and to by used potentially as an emergency shelter. It would also be possible to pursue the addition as a phase or to combine the addition and enclosure. 3. Project justification (need): Each component of the rink infrastructure that has been identified for improvement is at least 15 years beyond its expected life. The rink has remained functional due to a great deal of regular maintenance. Even with those efforts, the wear and tear of use and time will result in catastrophic failures within the rink floor and refrigeration components in the foreseeable future. As referenced, proposed projects have all been recommended in the 1986 and 2002 Thomas Associates reports. If the rink experiences a catastrophic failure during a season the effects would likely linger for years to come. Obviously the rinks expected revenues ($237,953.12 in 2008) would be drastically cut but the long term revenue potential for the rink would also be in jeopardy. Much of the rink revenue and use comes from organizations that have been contracting with Cass Park for decades and would be unable to run their programs if the ice time was not available due to malfunction. The rental groups contribute over $100,000 in annual ice rental revenue alone not to mention concessions. Rink reservations for these organizations are finalized in September and they create their master schedule in conjunction with similar organizations throughout the state at that time. If they did not have their scheduled ice available to them for a season it would likely shut down their leagues for that season. It would be unlikely that they would be able to return the following year with a similar number of registrants. This situation would have disastrous effects particularly on youth hockey organizations (IYHA & TGHA). There would not be enough ice available at nearby rinks to supplement their needs. Enclosure - The 1986 Fred H Thomas Associates Feasibility Study stated "the ultimate option would enclose the rink to lengthen the skating season and produce more uniform comfort and ice conditions, thus increasing the use of the rink and operating revenues" (pg1). The lack of an enclosure impacts greatly on every aspect of facility operation. Season length, ice conditions, ability to attract users, comfort of patrons, air quality, maintenance, condition of equipment, energy consumption and expense are all aspects of ice rink operation that will be positively transformed by enclosure of the ice rink. Season length could be decided completely on programmatic considerations. The rink would be able to accommodate new user groups and increase the use of current users. Air quality for everyone (patrons /spectators) within the rink structure would be improved due to the removal of bird and rodent nesting and waste which currently must be addressed by maintenance staff on a daily basis. Building maintenance and condition of equipment would be made much more manageable because of the enclosed environment, controlled conditions and protection from the elements. Air quality has become an issue due to the nesting especially during the non -rink season when the day camp and inline skaters are at the rink. Energy efficiency would increase greatly due to the ability to control temperature and more importantly humidity. When the outside air temperature is at 40 degrees or higher, the refrigeration system runs constantly to maintain the ice surface. During the 140 days of operation for the 2006 -07 rink season the average air temperature was 40 degrees or higher 45 days. A Tompkins Girls Hockey Association Tournament with teams coming from all over the northeast was severely affected and almost had to be cancelled when the high for the Dec 1 start of play was 57 degrees with a great deal of precipitation. There were 15 days during the 06/07 season where the high temperature was 60 degrees or higher. The enclosure of the rink would allow its use for a much wider array of events during the off season. Many organizations are not able to utilize the rink for their events because they are unable to control weather conditions, cannot control entrance into the area nor are they willing to deal with the results of the animal nesting. Having an enclosed space of that size would make a very attractive and functional space for event coordinators. Rink Floor & Refrigeration System- The 2002 Thomas Association Building Assessment states, "the most immediate need is to replace the Rink cooling system. The system is 30 years old, needs to be continually repaired and may suddenly fail. The Ice Rink provides unique programming opportunities within the city and would be greatly missed if unavailable ". The Thomas Associates Assessment listed the replacement of the rink floor with a #1 rating (must do) in 2002 (pg 6) in the special requests section and again in the Mechanical Systems section (pg8). Prior to each season an average of 15-25 of the steel pipes that run throughout the rink floor need to be repaired due to leaking of the calcium chloride brine which is extremely corrosive and deteriorates the pipes. To this point we have been able to repair these pipes in the access trench. There is evidence in several areas of the rink floor where the concrete reinforcement grid is coming through the surface of the concrete indicating that there is currently some level of movement within the floor. Once a leak occurs in the floor within the playing surface the floor will have to be cut, dug up, repaired and new concrete poured. That will likely only be a temporary fix because the brine will have seeped into other areas of the floor and those areas will deteriorate quickly and fail shortly thereafter. This situation will occur during the operating season and we will lose use of the rink and be unable to meet our contracted agreements with user groups for an unknown amount of time. The refrigeration system consists of two cooling towers, one chiller, two compressors, and two brine pumps. The system is considered to be archaic in both construction and efficiency. A new refrigeration system would be enormously more efficient and would provide more opportunities to utilize the "waste" heat and energy given off by operation in other areas. Replacing the system when it has failed which would occur during the operating season would be much more costly than acting proactively. Ideally, the lighting system and "low e" ceiling would be replaced at the time of floor and dasherboard replacement to take advantage of the access and mobilization of construction crews that would be available during this phase. Rink Enclosure /Locker Rooms /Shower /Restroom Facilities- The enclosure phase would allow space and construction that would support the needed additions of 2 locker rooms with restroom and shower amenities along with 1 multiuse room and a needed space for storage. One would be utilized as a meeting /reception /event area and the other would be available for uses such as a referee's room, office space and /or seasonal storage. All of these additions were listed in Option 1 of the 2002 Thomas Associates assessment (pg 2). The assessment states, "Option 1 most closely represents what needs to be implemented to make the facility functional, address spatial deficiencies and provide for the continued enjoyment of program offerings at Cass Park for the next 5 years and beyond (pg 3). Recent Rink Finances 2008 Expenditures- $228,851.21 Revenues- $237,953.12 2007 Expenditures- $223,807.02 Revenues- $214,594.32 2006 Expenditures- $245,777.47 Revenues- $236,168.55 2005 Expenditures- $213,573.73 Revenues- $204,909.48 *These revenues do not reflect bulk contributions from other municipalities.