The Janesville Youth Hockey Club Board held a long discussion Monday night and then voted in favor of taking ownership of a new arena, said Mary Burke, board president.

The board voted that the club would seek to own and manage a new arena if it is built, she said. “I am so excited. It’s definitely a move in the right direction,” Burke said. City Manager Eric Levitt said Tuesday the idea is worth considering. However, Levitt said he wants a consultant to look at the situation first. Levitt said he will propose to the council Monday night that the operator of an ice arena in another community be brought in to review the data on the Janesville Ice Skating Center and plans for a new ice arena.

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Council member Bill Truman recently suggested that the council write a check to the Janesville Youth Hockey Club so the club can build a new arena and then “wash our hands” of running and maintaining the facility. The club could put the arena where it wants and run it the way it wants, Truman said.

The club’s board meets again next week, and the city council is tentatively scheduled to discuss ice arena issues at its meeting Monday, Feb. 22.

Ownership of the rink is the latest development in what has been an ongoing issue. The current arena, owned by the city, is old and needs at least $1 million in repair. A private group working through the hockey club proposed raising $1.5 million to build an arena with two sheets of ice. It asked the city add $2.5 million and donate the land.

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The board was responding to recent suggestions by Janesville City Council members that the city help pay for the building of a new ice arena but then give ownership over to the hockey club, relieving the city of responsibility for ongoing costs.

The city owns the existing ice arena, which is estimated to need at least $1 million in repairs.

Board President Mary Burke said the youth hockey organization would take over the ice arena and manage it for all users, including figure skaters and hockey teams at all levels. Public skating would be preserved as well.

City Manager Eric Levitt said Tuesday that the idea is worthy of consideration. Levitt said he will recommend at Monday’s city council meeting that the city pay for a relatively low-cost study by a neutral, outside party of the current ice arena and of plans for a new one.

Levitt said the study could be done fairly quickly. He said it’s a good time to reassess the situation because of the many changes that have come up since the idea of a new ice arena was first proposed last spring.

By FRANK SCHULTZ ( Contact )   Tuesday, February 16, 2010 – 11:40 a.m.
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The Black Bridge site would include the western-most diamond in the youth baseball facility north of Matheson Street. As a second choice, the committee favors an originally discussed site near the Youth Sports Complex on the east side.

The Janesville Youth Hockey Club Building Committee also is asking the council for permission to sell naming rights to the rink and both sheets of ice. Three potential donors have expressed interest.

The council meets at 7 p.m. Monday in City Hall, 18 N. Jackson St. A public hearing is scheduled before any action.

The council in October approved spending $2 million in public funds for one sheet of ice and another $500,000 for a second sheet if private funds are raised. At that time, council members OK’d a south side site in an industrial park west of Beloit Avenue over the east side site. The council members said they wanted to encourage development on the south side.

The group has until March 1 to raise the first $1.5 million. It hopes to have one sheet of ice operating by the 2010 hockey season.

Council members opted to give the group public money because renovating the old ice rink on Beloit Avenue would cost an estimated $1.5 million. And the city could locate a new fire department on the site of the current ice arena, saving the city $1 million in land costs.

City staff, though, recommends against the Black Bridge location, and one of the concerns is its nearness to homes.

But the hockey committee said the south side location limits its ability to raise donations….

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