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The rink at Casco Point is the most heavily used of our two rinks. The main reason for the heavier <br />use of this rink is the denser development in this area. City water is available in this area providing <br />an adequate water supply for rink flooding. The ice quality at this rink appears to be adequate. <br />The Hackberry Park rink receives less use than the Casco Point Rink. There are numerous homes <br />within walking distance of this rink. The ice quality at this rink is not a good as Casco Point. There <br />is no Cit>' water available, so the water supply is limited for rink flooding. It takes longer to flood <br />this rink and in very cold weather the water freezes before the entire rink is flooded. This causes <br />ripples in the ice. The suggestion of closing this rink was made last winter. I did receive several <br />phone calls from neighboring residents requesting that the rink remain open. They were not totally <br />satisfied with the ice quality, but did say that the rink was used by neighborhood residents. <br />Members of the Park commission and City staff have been investigating options for ice rinks over <br />the past several months. WoodhillCountryClub, and the Cities of Wayzata, and Tonka Bay were <br />contacted to obtain more information on their ice rink facilities and maintenance procedures. <br />Woodhill Country Club <br />Two Park Commission members and City staff met with the ground's maintenance superintendent. <br />Woodhill has a hockey rink and open skating rink located on a pond. There is an unsupervised <br />warming house and lights on the rink. Since this is a private club the unsupervised warming house <br />works fine. The possibility of the City having a warming house was discussed, but supervision <br />would be required because of public use of the facility. The ice quality on these rinks is very good. <br />Eight man-hours of labor are spent on rink maintenance on a daily basis. Three employees spend <br />several hours dfiily scraping the ice and flooding the rink. Personnel are available for snow removal <br />on the rink immediately after a snow storm. Personnel are also available on weekends for ice rink <br />maintenance if necessary. <br />Rink at the Orono Golf Course Pond <br />The possibility of having an ice rink on the pond at the Orono Golf Course was discussed. <br />Woodhill's rink is on a pond, this results in difficulties in establishing ice early in the season. To <br />obtain ice as soon as possible, snow blowing and hand shoveling of the rink is completed before ice <br />thick enough to support equipment is obtained. To get good quality thick ice snows must be removed <br />to allow better freezing of the pond. Winters with heavy, early snow falls are problematic. The <br />ground’s superintendent said that establishing good ice on a pond early in the season can be difficult <br />and is very labor intensive. H.^ving a rink on a pond can result in a short skating season. <br />Based on the comments receivea *he Woodhill grounds maintenance superintendent, I do not <br />believe an ice rink on the pond at the Orono golf course is practical or feasible. The City does not <br />have the maintenance personnel available for snow blowing and hand shoveling of a an ice rink. <br />Also, there is always the possibility of equipment damage from maintenance equipment falling <br />through the ice.