{"id":2447461,"date":"2019-08-12T22:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T04:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/no-silver-lining-in-getting-rid-of-downtown-aspen-ice-rink\/"},"modified":"2019-08-12T22:40:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T04:40:00","slug":"no-silver-lining-in-getting-rid-of-downtown-aspen-ice-rink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/no-silver-lining-in-getting-rid-of-downtown-aspen-ice-rink\/","title":{"rendered":"No silver lining in getting rid of downtown Aspen ice rink"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Cousins Annabelle Bowden, 6, left, and Piper Bowden, 5, enjoy ice skating outside of CP Burger in December 2017.<\/strong>
Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Aspen City Council on Monday had a chilly response to the Hyatt Grand Aspen\u2019s desire to no longer provide traditional ice skating at the Silver Circle rink.<\/p>\n

Representatives of the timeshare and hotel development said it\u2019s too expensive to continue refrigerating the rink, and the Environmental Protection Agency is phasing out the cooling agent, CFC-22, that has been used for more than a decade on the park-zoned land on Durant Street.<\/p>\n

The Hyatt Grand Aspen is required to provide a public amenity space, specifically an ice skating rink, on that parcel per the approvals of the resort development in 1992.<\/p>\n

The Hyatt Grand Aspen<\/a> on Monday was seeking a temporary use permit to use \u201csynthetic ice\u201d for the 2019-20 season after the city revoked that approval this past spring when numerous complaints came in about how terrible the surface was to skate on.<\/p>\n

Because the residence club and its homeowners association have to make a significant reinvestment on the property, they want council to consider other park-centric opportunities there and have synthetic ice be the temporary solution until bigger picture ideas come to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that is experiential and interactive,\u201d said Chris Bendon, the Hyatt Grand Aspen\u2019s representative. \u201cWe are really trying to come up with a viable use for that space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some council members balked at the suggestion of not having an ice rink there and pointed out that the Hyatt Grand got very valuable concessions and waivers as a result of getting that multimillion dollar parcel from the city to operate the only outdoor skating rink in town.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s inconceivable to me that we are in this place,\u201d Councilwoman Rachel Richards said. \u201cI\u2019m very disappointed \u2026 It seems like there should be a look back on the giveaways.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the classic, \u2018we\u2019ve got the approvals so we should shed our responsibilities.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bendon said that is not the intent of his client, which wants the city to consider other uses as the resort property makes a significant investment into the parcel\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are facing a significant reinvestment and want to make sure we do it right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t convince Richards, who said Wagner Park and the pedestrian malls across the street provide for park-like activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very concerned about the concept of what would be better,\u201d she said, adding it\u2019s an attempt by the resort ownership to put a \u201cbright and shiny object in front of us to get out of old obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Ann Mullins said while she is open to a conversation about future uses, she is frustrated because bringing back ice skating at that location has been talked about for over a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we are getting backed into a corner,\u201d she said, adding that considering other uses for the parcel is a years-long community conversation and it doesn\u2019t address the upcoming season. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be forced into putting down a fake surface. \u2026 \u201cI want to see ice there this winter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richards said she wants information on how much the Hyatt Grand Aspen has put into maintaining the ice rink infrastructure and what it has reserved for capital replacements over the years.<\/p>\n

Council agreed to continue the temporary-use request<\/a> until September when staff can provide information on what the value is of the concessions and fee waivers<\/a> granted to the Hyatt Grand Aspen in lieu of the ice rink stipulation, as well as an analysis of what the resort property has put into and has set aside for the rink, along with other options to refrigerate outdoor ice.<\/p>\n

Samantha and Craig Cordts-Pearce, who own CP Burger, a restaurant that leases space from the Hyatt in front of the Silver Circle, said there are ways to refrigerate ice rinks.<\/p>\n

They referenced Base Village in Snowmass Village, Vail and Rockefeller Center in New York.<\/p>\n

They said their staff and themselves were the target of all of the complaints last winter when the synthetic surface didn\u2019t live up to the expectations of locals and visitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the face of this,\u201d Craig said, noting that sales were down last year as a result of the synthetic surface debacle. \u201cThey think CP put the plastic down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cordts-Pearces said their lease with the Hyatt Grand Aspen says that they operate an ice rink.<\/p>\n

Council members made it clear that they understand that the hotel and residence club\u2019s ownership requirement includes the upkeep of the ice refrigeration system, which maintains the skating surface from November to March.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy preference is to uphold the original approvals,\u201d said Mayor Torre. \u201cThere is no ambition to have anything else there except frozen ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Grand Hyatt Aspen is in the process of appealing the city\u2019s earlier revocation of the synthetic ice. Arguments will be made in front of a hearing officer in the future.<\/p>\n

However, the applicant has requested that the appeal be placed on holdwhile council considers this temporary-use request.<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cousins Annabelle Bowden, 6, left, and Piper Bowden, 5, enjoy ice skating outside of CP Burger in December 2017.Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Aspen City Council on Monday had a chilly response to the Hyatt Grand Aspen\u2019s desire to no longer provide traditional ice skating at the Silver Circle rink. Representatives of the timeshare and hotel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2447461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 22:47:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}