Soon, residents living in the southern Wood River Valley may no longer have to hose down public areas like Lawrence Heagle Park or even the rodeo grounds in the frigid hours of winter evenings to play hockey or simply let their children skate.
The Hailey City Council voted unanimously Monday night to allow the city to become a co-applicant along with the nonprofit community organization Hailey Ice Inc., to secure a conditional use permit to build a public ice rink just west of the city limits in Blaine County.
The committed land for the 200-foot-by-85-foot rink is adjacent to Lions Park, west of the Big Wood River. The Hailey City Council issued a letter of commitment for the land to use as a rink on May 23, 2003.
No doubt an enthusiastic supporter of the concept, Hailey City Council President Rick Davis pointed out that two sports in the city fall far short of having enough available playing space: soccer and hockey.
"That's not really an acceptable situation," Davis said.
While the idea to build a community ice rink in the Hailey area does have some of its origination in the dogged work of community-minded citizens over the past 20 years, most of substantive progress on the project has taken place more recently.
During the past three years, civic-minded community volunteers have raised approximately $500,000 to fund the ice rink's construction.
Through various design changes, the shape of the ice rink has shifted from fully enclosed to open to the elements. For now, at least, donations will only pay for an open-air ice rink, Hailey Ice Chairman Ron Fairfax said. Future plans envision placing either a cover over the ice rink or possibly even fully enclosing it, he said.
One donor who has contributed to the rink's construction fund has specified that there must be at least a 60 percent commitment for ice time before their money can be spent, Fairfax told the council members. "And that's pretty much done," he said.
"So that's where we are now," Fairfax said. "We'd like to get a rink in there."
Overhead lighting for the ice rink, which would be open until 9 p.m., would be screened from view to protect from impacting nearby residents, he said.
"What we're planning to do is screen those lights on the east side so they don't intrude in neighbors nearby," Fairfax said.
Depending on the outcome of the CUP application process, construction on the Hailey Ice Rink could begin as early as this fall and use of the rink could happen as soon as this winter, volunteers with the organization said Monday.
