A Community Asset for All Belmont Residents

A Community Rink is a place where people come together, share an activity, and feel connected to the broader Belmont community.

In Belmont, our community spaces are dear to us – the Underwood Pool, Beech Street Center, Lone Tree Hill, schools, library, theater, courts, fields, playgrounds … and hopefully soon, the rebuilt Community Rink.

These are spaces that we might use in different phases of our lives – playgrounds when our children are little, the senior center when we are a bit older, and the Community Rink throughout, though maybe in different ways.

Our community spaces add to the richness of our community, and we all benefit. Though none of us use them all, taken together, they shape our lives and bring us together.

HOW WE WILL USE THE COMMUNITY RINK

Our Community Rink creates new opportunities for an array of activities that serve the diverse interests of our residents.

Some will engage in 3-seasons of ice-based activities as participants or spectators. Some through summer “non-ice” camps and sports. Others will use the bathrooms and concessions during events at Harris Track & Field.

This mix of activities will be shaped by our community, for our community; the facility has a flexible design that has many possibilities.

The new community rink is expected to serve over 5,000 Belmont residents each year,  including residents of all ages in all seasons.

Ice-based options for youth & adults

  • NEW: 3-seasons of skating lessons, figure skating, open skating, and other ice-based activities we have never had enough ice time to do
  • NEW: Skate rentals that facilitate casual use and wider participation
  • NEW: PTA/PTO nights that can now include all interested students, including those who do not own skates
  • S.P.O.R.T. skating programs for special needs residents
  • Hockey home ice for Belmont teams and developmental programs
  • Adult hockey leagues

    Summer options for all ages

    Summer is new. The facility was designed to be flexible and support a wide variety of possibilities. When the ice is removed in the summer, the underlying surface provides 17,000 sq ft of climate-controlled, wide-open recreational space.

    Non-ice activities like summer camps, summer sports, special events, and tournaments could bring residents of all ages to the Community Rink, including those who do not participate in the traditional ice-based activities in other seasons.

      Proper support facilities for players, spectators, and event attendees

      • NEW: Public bathrooms and concessions for spectators and events on Harris Track & Field and the nearby fields, as well as activities in the Community Rink
      • Team locker rooms to replace the White Field House
      • Dressing rooms for youth sports and community skating
      • NEW: The same locker & dressing rooms will be used by sports teams playing on Harris Track & Field and the nearby fields

       

      ESTIMATED NUMBER OF USERS

      NOTE: These estimates were developed by volunteers based on an assumption that the facility will be operated with 3 seasons of ice and a summer season with a concrete playing surface. This is one possible scenario. Operational plans will be developed through a public involvement process if Belmont residents vote YES and the project moves forward.

      We estimate that more than 5,000 Belmont residents will use the new Community Rink in two important ways:

      • Participating or attending a program inside the new facility
      • Participating or attending a program at Harris Track or Field or a nearby field, which is served by the public services portion of the Community Rink (bathrooms, concessions, locker/dressing rooms). The role of the Community Rink as a partner facility for Harris Track & Field is intentional, carefully designed, and a significant improvement to the player/attendee experience.

      We have gathered the best information we can find about all of the ways people will use the new facility. Where there is actual data, we used that to create our tally. Some of the estimates are based on reasonable increases based on the 12-month seasons, and others are intended to be conservative estimates if the category is new and unknowable.

      We know that there are people who show up in multiple categories for a number of reasons – maybe an athlete plays two sports, or parents have multiple kids participating in a program, or a parent attends a BHS football game and also goes to Open Skate. We have applied an adjustment factor to try to account for these overlaps.

      Finally, in order to sanity check the bottoms up methodology, we also approached the tally from a different perspective and looked at the total number of students in the Belmont Public Schools and the potential participation if roughly 1/3 of them participated in one of the events inside the Community Rink or at Harris Track & Field or a nearby field.

      The bottoms up method produced an estimate of 5,041 users. The order of magnitude test produced an estimate of 5,949 users. We are therefore projecting annual usage at “more than 5,000” Belmont residents.

      This is an imperfect science. What is clear, however, is that a significant portion of Belmont residents will be served by the new Community Rink.

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