RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WJAC) — A grassroots effort to get a new ice rink for suburban Johnstown is in the works.
Monday night was the first working session for an ad-hoc committee of the Richland School District's board.
The goal was to learn more details and get questions answered about a potential addition to East Hills Recreation.
"The school district owns the property that East Hills sits on and leases the building back to East Hills recreation, so the proposed site would be part of the Richland School District property," said school board member Julian Beglin.
Paul Petrilli is a parent in the district. He said when he heard East Hills recreation was looking to expand, "We said, 'Well, we would like to include an ice rink and we'll essentially start donating some of our time and help develop this as a project to you.'"
His son plays hockey and he's also an engineer who's had involvement in design and construction of other ice rinks. Now, he's volunteering his time, working with East Hills Recreation, to bring a rink back to Richland Township, after Planet Ice closed two years ago.
"We need a facility that we have ice available year-round, other than maybe a short brief time for maintenance, but it's year-round and it's actually promoting hockey programs," Petrilli said.
The facility would be a single sheet ice rink with seating for 500 people and would have another basketball court for adults and kids' leagues.
"It is our intent that it will not cost Richland School District any money to build it,” Petrilli said. “We're not asking for the school district to fund the building for us. That will be solely through fundraising that East Hills does or money that they have."
The plans are to build a regulation-size rink with low glass on the sides, with separate locker rooms for women, men and children.
It will be self-funded and self-sufficient. Organizers are asking the board for permission to start a capital campaign.
"Most importantly, I think, is to look at this from the perspective of growing our economy and providing additional influx into the community," Beglin said.
The committee will revisit the issue in about a month, to get more answers about financing and to make sure zoning and clearances are in order to construct the building.
If all goes as planned, construction could take 12 to 18 months.
The total cost for the project will be about $5 million.
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