!!!Exciting News for Friends of Ice Skating in Glen Ellyn!!!
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Carl Cepuran
Oct 5, 2023, 4:01:59 AM10/5/23
to Carl Cepuran' via GESS Alumni
Dear Friend of Ice Skating in Glen Ellyn,
This week an amazingly awesome thing happened to make the future of winter ice sports for Glen Ellyn, and by extension, Glen Ellyn Speed Skating, potentially much brighter! Anyone looking for the physical, mental, and social benefits of recreational skating or curling activities outdoors from mid-November to mid-March will benefit!
On Tuesday, October 3rd, the Glen Ellyn Park District Board approved the preliminary draft plan and budget for the new Downtown Event Park on the US Bank site at the corner of Duane and Forest streets right across from the train station. The site plan includes the installation of a 120 x 60 foot refrigerated ice surface!
This rink will allow for 4 months of reliable ice, every day, from November through March for recreational skating, lessons, parties, demonstrations and curling. It will be in a highly visible location inside a new, high quality park with a stage and support buildings and other features that will be aesthetically and functionally pleasing.
While not an NHL or Olympic competition sized rink, it will afford easy central access to future users and give us a "home rink" again for the all important purposes of recruiting and developing beginning skaters. Demonstrations, exhibitions, and, creative competitive games should foster interest and fun! Visibility and access make up for size!
The rink is the maximum size that can be fit on the site, and it is the same size as ones in town squares and commercial districts in Rockville, MD, Silver Spring, MD, and, Arlington, VA that have been successfully viable for over 10 years in weather even warner than ours! The concept and size has been proven to work.
Interest in urban, outdoor ice skating is on the rise, from Chicago's Millennium Park or the Ribbon, to, New York's Rockefeller Center and Central Park, or, even internationally such as the cities of Vienna, Austria and Zagreb, Croatia. This rink will help capitalize on this.
The Village and Park District are doing this project to:
* Redevelop this key, central, visible site in a valuable way for the village
* Fill needs while being aesthetically pleasing and fit in with the historical aesthetic of the town
* Create a place that will draw people downtown to patronize local businesses
* Create a "front yard" for the village that is appealing and enticing to future visitors and residents
* Fill a community need for a functional, versatile, flexible, expandable event hosting site
* Fill a need for an urban park to hang out and gather or relax in
* Create a place for people of all ages to use recreationally for physical exercise and well-being
* Honor the place that skating and Lake Ellyn have held in the historical life of the town
* Honor the legacy and tradition of Glen Ellyn Speed Skating since 1938 and its contributions to the sport
* Honor all the fun times and sports and social opportunities had by recreational skaters on Lake Ellyn
* Honor the excellence of GESS members in State, National, International and Olympic competition
Here is a link to the Glen Ellyn Park District webpage for the project -
Also, on the above page you can download the PDF document of the October 3rd presentation to the Park Board by staff and external project architects/engineers. Pay special attention to the following pages of the presentation:
1 - Title
4 - Current Site Photo
15 - Site Plan
16 - Birdseye Rendering of the Site Plan
22 - Birdseye Rendering of the Winter View with Ice Rink of the Site Plan
30 - Ground level View Looking at the Rink from the Pavilion
38 - Site Plan for Winter Set-up with Ice Rink
44 - Timeline of Project
While great progress has been made on this project including getting an ice rink to be a part of it, there is still a ways to go to make this a reality, including more tweaks of the plans, and, funding of phase 2, along with funding for annual operating expenditures. So, the plan can grow or shrink depending on variables including funding and additional feedback.
Next up is Village Board approval of the present plan. The Village Board next meets on October 9th at 7pm.
Then, there is a Virtual Town Hall Meeting to present the plan as approved to the public to show what's been done and solicit more feedback. The link for that is coming soon and will be on the GE Park Dist website.
If you like the idea of skating on a refrigerated rink in center of downtown Glen Ellyn and all that can do for the ice sports in town, YOU CAN HELP!!!
PLEASE - the project can still be changed, reduced, added to - it is important to voice support for the ice rink and the project if you want to see it happen! It's not over and your voice counts!
PLEASE - consider sending an email to each board member thanking them for making this project happen, and, underscore how important and good it is that they made plans to include the ice rink!
PLEASE - act to send by the Village Board meeting of October 9th!
PLEASE - Forward this news on to family, friends, neighbors, current and past teammates of yours to let them know the news and invite them to voice their support to the boards via email!
You can relate your past experiences about what skating in Glen Ellyn meant to you or someone you know. You can relate how the future will be served by this project. Or, you can do both! It doesn't have to be a long or technical note, just write from the heart in your own words and express your experience and opinion. Below are the emails for key staff and board members:
Glen Ellyn Park District -
Executive Director - Dave Thommes
Director of Planning - Nate Troia
President - Ben Stortz
Commissioners -
Julia Nephew
Mary Crickmore
Michael Ward
Kathy Cornell
Rob Weber
Alex Durham
Village of Glen Ellyn -
Village Manager - Mark Franz
Assistant Village Manager - Emily Rodman
President - Mark Senak
Trustees -
Kelli Christiansen
Anne Gould
Gary Fasules
Kelley Kalinich
Steve Thompson
Donna Jean Simon
All emails conveniently set up to easily copy and paste in your address line -
If you have any comments, ideas, questions or other reason to contact me, please do. I'm happy to communicate or do what is needed to see this project and rink become a reality. Others who have been instrumental so far have been Doug Herwaldt of Paul's Shoe Service in town, and, Lee Marks, past parent of GESS skaters Dan and Kathy as well as a past President of the club and organizer of the novice races with his wife Judy for many years. At the Park District, VP and Commissioner Julia Nephew and staff member Nate Troia have been very helpful as well. Please consider sending an email of support right now! Let's keep this project on track!
Sincerely,
Carl Cepuran
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