By Rebecca Melnitsky
The Village of Mineola is getting started on planned improvements to the hockey rink in Wilson Park.
The Village Board approved a proposal Wednesday for an engineering study for the rink. Mineola will pay $44,000 to D&B Engineers and Architects to design a plan to fix and repair the surface of the rink, as well as new striping, asphalt, surface coating and replacing the fencing, which has become warped over the past 20 years.
“Once we do design and get everything ready on that, we can come to how the project will be done,” said Thomas Rini, the village’s superintendent of public works. “Then we’re obviously going to have to let it for bid.”
Rini said the final cost could be between $250,000 to $275,000, although that will not be known until the engineering study is complete.
“It’s kind of hard to say at this point because depending on how much we can do, we’re to going to try and develop a plan to keep it within a reasonable budget,” Rini said. “It’s an asphalt surface so there are a lot of cracks. So that has to be saw cut and removed, and new asphalt has to be laid down.”
The funds to pay for the engineering proposal will come from the budget’s general fund and unreserved fund balance, as well as a grant from New York State.
Mineola has received $75,000 for resurfacing the hockey rink from the State and Municipal Facilities Program, which allows state legislators to award money to municipalities for various capital improvement projects. The village also received $200,000 for renovations to village parkland.
Trustees Paul Cusato, Paul Pereira and Dennis J. Walsh approved the proposal. Mayor Scott Strauss and Trustee George Durham were unable to attend the meeting.
“We intend to do a lot of work in Wilson Field over there, including the bocce ball courts and other things over there,” Walsh said.“That’s all going to be included in our project and that’s for the future, but it’s coming down the road.”
Pereira compared the process to previous renovations at Memorial Park.
“Everyone sees the finished product,” he said. “But it took a long time to get there in terms of the engineering, the planning, the financing and the actual doing the job.”
