Ice Rink Plan May Put County In Recreation Business

A major policy change may be in the offing for Washtenaw County that will involve the county government more directly in providing a wider variety of recreational facilities for residents. The Board of Commissioners' Property Committee yesterday directed the Planning Commission to do a study on the feasibility of the county constructing an indoor ice rink that might cost upwards of $650,000. The proposal for the ice rink was submitted to the committee yesterday by representatives from Ann Arbor's Amateur Hockey Association and Figure Skating Club. County Administrator K. Ross Childs and the committee members agreed that besides the normal considerations given when the county purchases or builds something, this project will also require a policy decisión concerning the type of recreational activities in which Washtenaw's governmerit will involve itself. Presently, the Board of Commissioners limits the county's participation mainly to parks and park-related activities. Cmsr. Richard Walterhouse of Ann Arbor noted that if the county decides to go ahead with the ice rink, this could open the door to construction of golf courses, swimming pools and other major recreation resources by the ty. "I'm not saying we shouldn't be involved in these activities, but we must realize that this would also be a policy decisión," Walterhouse said. Administrator Childs told the committee such a decisión would be right in line with a proposal the county's Park Board of Trustees is considering. The trustees are making plans for the possible purchase and development of a 273acre park site along the Huron River, between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti in Superior Township. Childs said the present plans cali for development of a golf course on this site. To give the commissioners an idea about what they could be getting into, , David Shipman, from the Amateur Hockey Association, presented a possible outline for use of a county-built ice rink. He said he based many of his figures on activities at an ice rink built last September in Fraser. Just in providing for use of an ice rink for time already requested, Shipman said the rink could opérate for a 22-week season, and another 10-week season. He suggested the rink would be in use 105 hours a week during the longer season, and open 10 hours a day, six days a week during the shorter season. Suggesting an hourly rental rate of $37.50, Shipman said total revenues should exceed expenses by about $62,000 a year. This money could be used to pay off the indebtedness from construction of the rink, he said. Childs told the committee such an ice rink should be self-supporting, and it should not cost the county anything to build. He said it would have to be built through revenue bonds sold by the County Building Authority. Shipman also presented a schedule of how use of the rink could be divided. This included Pioneer and Huron High Schools using the ice 12 hours a week each, the Figure Skating Club using it 36 hours a week, the Hockey League using it 27 hours a week, Concordia College and Washtenaw Community College using it six hours a week, Eastern Michigan University with 15 hours a week, Greenhills School three hours a week, and seven hours a week for public skating. In support of the need for the rink, Shipman noted that the Hockey Association had 467 eounty children participating, and the Figure Skating Club had 400 participants, with a waiting list equally as long. Shipman also said the need for ice is so great some Ann Arbor adult. hockey teams travel to Toledo to play in rinks at 2 o'clock in the morning.