Ice Rink Design Approval Tabled For Later Date In East Brunswick

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — The design approval for East Brunswick’s ice rink project will take some time as Council decided on Monday to table the discussion for a later date.

In front of Council members was a resolution to authorize professional architectural services from DMR Architects for the design of the project. The amount quoted for designing was $575,000.

However, many Council members raised questions about the design and potential uses of the rink.

Keith Kipp, Director of Engineering and Planning gave a presentation, highlighting the various elements of the proposed ice rink.

Council President James Wendell told Kipp he didn’t want the rink to look like a maintenance garage. “It can look like that from the back, from the woods, but it needs to fit in with what we are doing,” Wendell said.

Councilwoman Sharon Sullivan said there were many ice skating rinks in the area, but people don’t seem too keen to use it.

“People seem to use indoor walking tracks, basketball courts. I understand that the high school might want a hockey rink, but we’ve had a swimming team for years with no pool. I think we have to worry about all the residents and not the chosen few,” Sullivan said.

Councilman Kevin McEvoy then called for tabling the discussion for another day.

“I’m in favor of the hockey rink, it may not be the location where the mayor wants it. But I think what we need is a bigger audience so that we can get all our questions answered and move forward,” McEvoy said.

McEvoy asked community members to attend the next discussion and voice their concerns about the design.

Township plans to build a municipal-owned hockey rink on 8 acres of land near the Wonder Bread Factory.

This rink is expected to be part of East Brunswick's recreation utilities and will have multiple uses — ice hockey, ice skating. All-purpose areas like a basketball court are also being planned for the building.

Ahead of the discussion, Mayor Brad Cohen said that the project was an “extremely complicated” and “sophisticated” one that was different from the work needed to build office spaces or municipal buildings.

No date has been announced yet for the next discussion on the ice rink.

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