You mean its been green before and no one posted it here??
I usually assume Lake Ellyn will be similar to the flag at Foxcroft, which I drive by on the way home from work. I haven't noticed a green flag there yet all winter.
I have skated at the ice at Newton Park the last 3 night and the ice was pretty decent. We had to shovel it twice last night, but it was still good to be out there skating again. I think this was the first time since moving to GE that the green flag was out at Newton for more than one day.
Glen Ellyn Park District officials discussed a portable refrigerated ice rink Tuesday night but will continue with their usual ice-making routines for now.
Commissioner Ron Aubrey suggested this month that park district staff look into the idea of a portable rink. The district spends about $8,000 each winter season to create man-made ice rinks at Newton Park and Lake Fox Croft. The ice-making process takes about five days, along with many park district man hours.
Cory Atwell, park district executive director said it's frustrating when parks and recreation staff spends so much time making the ice, and then the weather takes a turn and the entire project melts after a day of use.
The 100 foot-by-200 foot refrigerated ice rink park district officials researched would run up a bill of about $750,000 and could be situated at Newton Park. The actual rink's price is about $550,000, a Zamboni to resurface the ice would cost about $32,000 and the remainder of the cost would fund the construction of a shed for all the equipment.
Officials said if the project were of great interest within the community, a group of residents could lead a park district referendum to attain the funds.
But for now, they'll keep on with their usual ways.
The park district creates ice and hockey rinks at Newton Park inside tennis courts and in open area to offer an activity area for residents.
"We've always had two rinks there, and it was always a great alternative to Lake Ellyn and Lake Fox Croft," Atwell said. "There have been a couple winters when we never got the lake open."
So far this winter Lake Ellyn hasn't been open for skating. Now, the ice is about 5 inches thick across the lake, and park district officials are hopeful it will be 8 inches thick in the near future and finally be open to residents.
In 2005, the park district emptied Lake Ellyn and installed a low-flow system and vortex system to help filter the lake and allow for an even ice freeze during winter months. The roughly $1 million project was funded by an anonymous donation given specifically for the work.
Don't they have enough of our money, including $11,000,000 additional funds for a hoop shack?
I think they should build this rink next to the $500,000 Putt Putt Castle so that facility can be used during the winter.
I know it's not apples to apples because we'd get more use out of a portable ice rink, but at their cost of 8k/year, $750k buys about 94 years of ice rinks.
Originally posted by SoEllynGuy: I know it's not apples to apples because we'd get more use out of a portable ice rink, but at their cost of 8k/year, $750k buys about 94 years of ice rinks.
SEG, you're hitting on what the PD needs to provide to us. Namely, what is the business case for this rink. What is our average skating days for the last, say 10 years. What is the predicted # of skating days if we had the portable rinks. Then we could make a better decision as to whether this should garner our support.
Unfortunately, the PD website only has agenda and no information "packets" like the D41 site. So its difficult to hear what, if any, analysis was done.
