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Rye Brook Ice Arena Public Hearing Set For Tuesday

RYE BROOK, N.Y. – Residents will get the chance to speak their minds at a public hearing Tuesday night on the four-rink ice arena proposed for 1100 King St. in Rye Brook.

This illustration shows where a proposed four-rink ice arena would be built on the grounds of Reckson Executive Park on King Street in Rye Brook.

This illustration shows where a proposed four-rink ice arena would be built on the grounds of Reckson Executive Park on King Street in Rye Brook.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Village of Rye Brook

At the last meeting of the village Board of Trustees, Mayor Joan Feinstein commented there are still “a lot of open issues” with the project. The Rye Brook Planning Board voted to recommend the project to the trustees by a slim vote of four to two earlier this month. The Board of Trustees has the final say in approving the project. 

The 140,000-square-foot recreation center would be built on the site of a 280,000-square-foot office building within a previously approved site plan for 1,052 parking spaces in the corporate park. The facility would include four rinks, locker rooms, space for a Zamboni, a heated mezzanine with bleacher seating for 1,230 and an open seating area for another 320.

The village has received a number of letters from neighbors, representatives of the City of Rye, Playland Park Ice Casino and bordering Greenwich, Conn., with concerns about impacts to the area, such as traffic and noise, as well as possible stormwater runoff

Clifford L. Davis, representing residents in nearby Doral Greens, filed an appeal with the village Zoning Board of Appeals, arguing that only a “parks and recreation facility” is allowed in the area, not just the recreation facility Reckson is proposing.

“If private 'recreation facilities' were permitted, such as the instant massive 140,000-square-foot application, which will greatly disturb the neighboring residential communities of Bell Fair and Doral Greens, that means that such a 'recreation facility' could operate in every residential district,” wrote Davis in an email to The Daily Voice, adding this precedent could overwhelm the entire village. 

Doral Greens’ appeal is not set until March 5, but Davis is urging the village to address the issue now and “bring this non-compliant zoning application to an end.”  

William Null, an attorney representing the applicant, Reckson LLP, which owns Reckson Executive Park at 1100 King St., previously asked the Board of Trustees to fast-track the project’s approval process, citing a hope to open by Sept. 1 – in time for the start of hockey season.

If the Board of Trustees approves the project, QMC Group LLC of Stamford, Conn., would build and operate the facility. It would be completed in about eight months.

The public hearing on the ice rink will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Rye Brook Village Hall, 938 King St., Rye Brook.

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