Greenwich’s skating rink was built as an outdoor rink in 1971 and was designated as the Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink in 1976.  The rink is on Sue Merz Way in Byram on a site bordered by Western Jr. Highway.   The rink serves thousands of users each year: figure skaters, public skaters, youth hockey groups for boys and girls, and men’s and women’s teams from Greenwich High School.    At present, the 50‐year‐old facility has a number of fundamental and critical issues, notably substandard ice size and inadequate, aging, and non‐code‐compliant equipment, building systems and fixtures.  The Town intends to build a new, high quality single rink facility on the property capable of serving Town users for the decades to come.    

The public Eugene Morlot Memorial Park of 13.4 acres includes the rink, Strazza Field baseball diamond, a parking lot, a playscape, swing set, the Byram Veterans’ Memorial Tree Grove, a wooded area and a grassy hillside.  The proposed plan is to construct a new rink of approximately 40,500 square feet with a gable roof centered over the ice.  The new facility will be at the location of the existing rink.  Today’s ballfield will be replaced by an improved Strazza field on the same site.  The improved Strazza field will be properly sized and oriented.  Also proposed is a new two‐lane access driveway from Western Junior Highway directly into the existing parking lot.  This will be an improvement in safety.    

In the approved budgets for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the Representative Town Meeting and Board of Estimate and Taxation voted to provide funds to retain architects to develop preliminary plans for the new rink. After a competitive selection process, SLAM Collaborative of Glastonbury, CT was chosen to as architects to design the new facility.  A preliminary schedule of milestones for the project is:

Project Schedule for New Rink in the Existing Location

The First Selectman has created a Rink User Committee for Design and Planning to act as community liaisons and to assist in planning the project.  This Committee meets monthly, and public participation is encouraged.