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Politics & Government

Residents Unsatisfied With Park Ice Rink Revisions

Despite changes, the Wilmette Park District can't mollify some about plans for Thornwood facility.

After hearing negative reactions from concerned residents, the revised their proposal Monday for a temporary ice rink at Thornwood Park.

Among other changes, the new version focuses on temporary lighting, reduced hours, a smaller surface and mixed use for both hockey players and casual skaters.

Earlier: Check out Patch's coverage of the ice rink debate

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Instead of 180 feet long by 60 feet wide, the rink would be 160 feet by 60 feet. Instead of permanent fixtures, there would be two temporary wooden polls with two lights each, which would not be turned on when there's no usable ice.

Also, instead of following the park's hours (sunrise to 10 p.m.), the rink would be open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

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But some residents say the revisions don't cut it. 

"It's not enough," said Caryn Summer, a resident on Dartmouth Street, which has seven properties boarding the park. "Sixty by 160 is still a very large part of the unprogrammed open space of the park."

Summer was also worried about how the lights might glare off the ice into residents' windows. 

"The presence of lighting would change the character of the neighborhood," she said. "Both of those things promote a dramatic change in how the park is used."

Though she doesn't live adjacent to the park, Gina Kennedy said she had concerns about the rink users being unsupervised. Her daughter was in New Trier's class of 2003, when a young man was paralyzed in a hockey game, she said. 

"While, thankfully, such tragedies are rare, it would only take one such incident at the proposed hockey rink to wreak financial havoc on the Park District, absent adequate liability insurance," she wrote in a letter to the Park District commissioners. 

Another resident, Bradley Reiff, was also concerned by the prospect of having lights in the park. He suggested that the city consider West Park instead, where lights were already in place.

"I don’t believe that the Park District has studied and proven that there are more hockey playing children near Thornwood than there are near West," Reiff wrote to the commissioners. "This is simply an assumption based on the requests of certain families that live near ."

Another nuance of the revision, not immediately apparent, is that Wednesday is the only day that provides after-school use for nonhockey players. 

"I think it takes away open space, which is used by the general public, and gives it to a very specific group in a park where it's highly residential," Summer said. 

Pointing to the infrastructure already in place at  and , Summer wondered why Thornwood was the focus for the rink site. 

"If this is a one-year trial, why not try it in another location before going to the expense of pulling all the utilities into this park?" she asked, referring to the electricity and water work that would be needed to make the rink viable. "I think is the wrong place to put it."

Stay tuned for more on the Thornwood Park ice rink debate. Like Wilmette-Kenilworth Patch on Facebook to join the conversation.

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