Riverhead Town sends draft agreement to Peconic Hockey Foundation for locating ice rink at Veterans Memorial Park

A draft agreement between Riverhead Town and Peconic Hockey Foundation would turn ownership of an ice hockey rink the organization recently acquired over to the town as a “gift,” according to Councilman Ken Rothwell, who discussed the proposal at Thursday’s Town Board work session. 

Town Attorney Erik Howard said he sent the agreement to Peconic Hockey Monday and had not heard back yet.

Mr. Howard confirmed Mr. Rothwell’s description of the contents of the agreement. 

Troy Albert of Wading River, the president of Peconic Hockey, said in an interview Thursday that the organization’s attorneys currently are reviewing the draft agreement. 

No one from Peconic Hockey attended the work session.  

Peconic Hockey has previously said it plans to give the bubble rink to the town.

“The town isn’t giving them land or loaning them anything,” Mr. Rothwell said.

But he said the town is looking for someone to manage the rink.

“The cost of running the facility is beyond the scope of our recreation department, as currently staffed,” he said.

Peconic Hockey is a Wading River-based, non-profit organization aimed at growing ice hockey across the East End.

It recently purchased a “bubble” ice rink from a company in Cranston, R.I. and it is being stored in Riverhead. Mr. Albert said it cost them about $1 million to buy and transport the rink.

Peconic Hockey Foundation is planning to locate the bubble ice rink at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton, just east of the town’s parking lot at Enterprise Park at Calverton. 

Earlier this year, they revised the plan to instead locate the rink at Stotzky Park. However, that plan ran into opposition from soccer players, who said they still use the field.

The town then went back to its original plan to locate the rink at Veterans Memorial Park.

See the full draft agreement: