Glens Falls aims to sell its Rec Center to Adk. Youth Hockey

By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer

At its April 14 meeting, the Glens Falls Common Council voted to pursue a sale of the Glens Falls Rec Center to Adirondack Youth Hockey Association, which will take over considerable costs of the facility.

Under the agreement, the AYHA would undertake operational costs, environmental remediation from last year’s glycol leak, and restoration of the ice rink “to a usable condition” at an expected cost of “at least $570,394,” in exchange for title to the property.

Mayor Diana Palmer said in her “First 100 Days” speech in Heritage Hall on Thursday, April 16, that the move would save the city approximately $250,000 annually and remove the risk of “millions of dollars” in remediation costs.

Mayor Palmer said the City discovered in January that levels of glycol leaking from the rink’s cooling system were rising.

The city, working with the Department of Environmental Conservation, has been pumping and storing the contaminated groundwater, with the likelihood of having to eventually transport and dispose of it, Mayor Palmer said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the cooling system “needs to be replaced,” she said.

“There was no secured funding in place to address necessary long-term repairs, and the city’s budget for the ice rink had already been exhausted,” she said.

“So we began meeting regularly with stakeholders to assess options and find a path forward. We have been very fervently working on a solution that will both allow hockey to resume next year and protect our environment, and we are very lucky that we have a partner in the community that would like to participate.”

Mayor Palmer said that in order to finalize the sale “We will need legislative approval, because it’s park land.” She said “In the meantime we will begin an operations agreement.”

She touted “What this does is it finds a private partner who is actually better equipped for running a facility like this, and has the means to fund-raise and afford to pay for the growing costs that the taxpayers cannot pay anymore.”

She said the AYHA “has committed to maintaining access for the community” at the rink with “time for high school teams, youth programs, and open skate.”

She also said that the City is committed to making the Rec Center a year-round facility. “With our partnership in place we think we can do that,” she said.

Requests for comment from AYHA were not returned by press time.

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