An ice-skating rink and pavilion planned for downtown Silver Spring’s civic center should be nixed, planning commission experts suggest.
Instead, commission staffers are recommending more green space, Glenn Kreger, of the Silver Spring community-based planning team, told The Penguin.
“The community-based planning staff has asked the applicant to consider replacing the ice rink and paved plaza with a village green,” Kreger wrote in an email. “Countywide park-planning staff also recommended a green space instead of the ice rink and hardscape plaza.”
The recommendation was not prompted by financial matters, Gary Stith, regional director, told Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board Monday night. Instead, he said planning staffers were concerned with the rink’s limited, seasonal use.
Stith also told The Penguin that construction on the civic building could not proceed until plans for the plaza were settled. The building and plaza are considered one project, he said.
In a January letter to MoCo exec Ike Leggett (D), the advisory board called for grass, pavement and a veterans memorial in the plaza design. However, board member Darian Unger explained that the request did not exclude the ice rink and pavilion.
“We specifically said that we supported the ice rink as well as grass with paved surfaces,” Unger said in a phone interview with The Penguin. “People who supported the turf were not supporting [it] at the expense of the ice rink.”
“I always worried that someone would play these [elements] against each other,” Unger added.
The planning department’s full staff has not yet reached a position on the ice rink, nor has a public hearing been scheduled yet with the planning board, wrote Kreger. The staff’s official report will be released a few weeks before the hearing is held, he added.
“Our best chance is to make our case before the planning board,” Unger said. “I think we’re likely to come out fighting on this one.”
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I’m all for the green space proposal. Nix the rink, let’s get some more places to drink.
Editor’s note: This comment has been edited for content. (Mar 14, 2007)
Come on Park and Planning, when I was a member (six years) of the SSCAB and I have been off of the board for almost as many, we talked about the skating rink. Why all of a sudden there is a “green issue”? I think P&P better get ready for a real “show down”.
The ice rink will be useful for two, maybe three months out of the year. Then what do we do with it? Why don’t we put the ice-skating rink on the ground floor of City Place where the food court is now? That way, we can have year-long ice skating and it can serve as an attraction for people to go into City Place and the downtown area. We can then add more green space to where the ice rink was being proposed at Veteran’s Plaza.
BTW- I second the notion for more places to drink in SS.
While the ice skating rink only has seasonal use, the area of the ice rink is designed to be a public plaza in the off months.
The really goofy thing is the idea of putting turf in the limited space that remains after including the civic center. Real grass is simply not an option since it will be badly damaged/killed under all the foot traffic.
And nobody is going to tolerate any of the consequences: a)bare dirt, b)the expense of replacing it with sod three times per year or c)the lengthy waiting period for (the lesser expensive option)seed to germinate and become established turf (behind roped off areas).
What Moco needs to do is what Rockville did in their new Town Center–include a LOT of shade trees in the plan and then put in large trees provide instant shade (not skinny little 10′ trees that require us to wait 5 years for a little shade).
Anonymous (March 12 | 12:08 p.m.) suggests moving the ice rink into City Place mall:
“That way, we can have year-long ice skating and it can serve as an attraction for people to go into City Place and the downtown area. We can then add more green space to where the ice rink was being proposed at Veteran’s Plaza.”
Do you agree or disagree? Do you have other suggestions for the plaza?
I can’t imagine that City Place, a relatively small enclosed mall in the business to make as much profit as possible, would give up that much square footage for a vendor (the ice rink) that generates very low revenue.
I can’t imagine City Place making much profit, period.
[...] survey was prompted by calls from planning commission experts, who suggested last week that the planned rink and pavilion be replaced with green [...]
[...] To date, the argument of what to place in front of downtown Silver Spring’s civic center has focused on two choices: a paved plaza with a seasonal ice rink, as designed by the architectural firm Machado & Silvetti; and a lawn without a rink, as recommended by the county’s parks and planning staff. [...]