The ice rink at Veterans Memorial Park is closed while the operator works to remove ice and snow from portions of the dome and its perimeter.
Rink staff are working to reopen the facility as soon as possible, Peconic Ice Rinks said in a social media post Tuesday.
A portion of the dome deflated under the weight of the snow and sleet that accumulated during Sunday’s storm, Peconic Rinks director Kevin McCormack told RiverheadLOCAL Tuesday afternoon.
The rink was closed on Sunday due to the snow storm. When staff arrived on Monday they found what McCormack called “a slight deflation” of the dome. It was reinflated right away by increasing the air pressure, he said.
“We’ve been working to get the snow away from around the sides of the dome and off the top of the dome,” McCormack said. That was the advice of the dome’s manufacturer, he said.
“So we’ve been working hard to get that done. And unfortunately, because it’s so cold, it takes time,” McCormack said.
“Safety is our number one priority,” he said.
“We’ve had extensive conversations with the town engineer and the fire marshal and the building inspector,” McCormack said. “Before anybody occupies the building again, it will be signed off by an independent engineer,” who will certify that everything is safe, he said.
“We’re taking this day by day because it’s a painstaking process, and we want to make sure that we do everything right and safe,” McCormack said.
Supervisor Jerry Halpin said Tuesday afternoon that the town fire marshal, building department and the town engineer have been out to Veterans Memorial Park to look at the dome. “We also used technology to look on top of the dome,” Halpin said.
“So it’s closed until they can remedy it,” he said. “And we’ve also asked for them to have an engineer who deals with that to come and to verify that it’s safe,” he said.
“We want to make sure there’s no damage. It’s our facility. We have insurance on it. The town owns it, and at the end of the day, it’s the town’s responsibility and if it needs repair, that’s added cost.”
In a press release issued by the supervisor’s office following the interview, Halpin announced that the arena had been “temporarily closed by order of the Fire Marshal due to possible impacts from the snow event this past weekend.”
The town posted “‘unsafe structure’ placards on the structure and ordered they remain in effect until a licensed engineer with subject matter expertise can review the dome and attest to the structural integrity of the structure,” the press release said.
Peconic Hockey Foundation bought the dome from the Town of Cranston, Rhode Island in 2022. The foundation built and equipped the rink and then, pursuant to a 15-year agreement approved by the Town Board in October 2022, donated the rink to the town in exchange for the right to occupy, operate and manage the facility on town-owned land.
The rink, named the Ed Westfall Arena, officially opened in November 2023.
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