No downtown Redmond ice rink this winter, after last season’s equipment failure; city looking at creating a bigger space

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Mechanical issues that closed the downtown Redmond ice skating rink early last winter mean it won’t reopen this winter, and quite possibly the next as well. But plans are in the early stages to create a bigger, better facility and bigger downtown draw.

City councilors reviewed some concepts and size options at a Monday afternoon workshop and were favoring a facility that could cost $5 million to $7 million, likely to use urban renewal funding, grants and other sources - not new city tax dollars.

The city and the Redmond Area Park and Recreation District partnered in the seasonal, portable ice skating rink in the downtown Redmond Plaza on Seventh Street for more than a decade.

Redmond Economic Development Manager Chuck Arnold said the mechanical failure last winter made clear the current equipment had reached the end of the road, so the city and RAPRD began looking at what other communities have done, and the potential cost.

While city councilors did support something larger than the previous, temporary 3,000-square-foot rink, which was limited to 75 skaters at a time, no one is talking a facility as large as Bend’s Pavilion or a major sports facility, but something “mid-sized” and more in keeping with the feel of Redmond’s downtown.

Possible locations were discussed, including the replaced Police Department site, Centennial Parking Lot or former Sears, and community input will be sought, officials assured.