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Wildcats still in search of pavement to call home
(by Megan Burrow - September 16, 2008)
Ten years since its inception, the Westwood Wildcats Roller Hockey Team is still trying to find a rink to skate on and call its own.
A member of the New Jersey Roller Hockey Association, a league made up of teams from 14 towns in the area, the Wildcats have played at numerous rinks in other towns, and currently rent a rink in Glen Rock.
Doug Connon, one of the heads of the organization said the problem with the current location is that the distance to the rink discourages some children and parents from participating.
The program, which has grown from its beginnings of 15 children now has over 100 players participating, has been lobbying for years for its own rink in town.
A rink at Westvale Park had been touted as the solution to the team’s nomadic state, and had been set to open for next year’s season, but due to a myriad of issues with the site, that plan has been abandoned.
The park, built on a former landfill will settle in areas as its contents decompose and break down. Any settlement, even as little as an inch, would cause the asphalt to buckle and crack, rendering the hockey rink unplayable.
Borough Engineer Stephen Boswell has said the settlement would almost certainly occur and ruin the rink.
One solution being floated was to surcharge the area – putting a eight-foot pile of dirt on top of the site and letting it sit for a few months, compressing what lies underneath. However, even surcharging would not guarantee the rink would remain smooth and playable.
Another problematic issue recently raised is the size of the area in question. The area initially demarcated by Malcolm Pirnie, the engineering firm which provided the layout and design of Westvale Park, is too small for use as a hockey rink.
Borough Administrator Bob Hoffmann said when borough officials visited the park to observe the settlement they discovered the rink was not the proper size and did not account for the inclusion of sidelines or penalty boxes.
Last year, the governing body decided to take funds originally designated to be used to create more municipal parking at borough hall and instead use the money for the construction of the rink. However, in light of the recent problems at Westvale Park, the borough has decided to reallocate the money again and use it for the extra municipal parking spaces, estimated to cost approximately $3,000 a space.
Hoffmann said there is still money to build a rink if a suitable location is found, but the town wants to make sure the project is done right. “It’s a question of putting good money after bad,” he said. “I’ve been involved with the building of two rinks in my career, and you have to err on the side of caution. You can’t have any cracks.”
He added that it would be wise for the town to act quickly on the paving of the new municipal parking spaces while asphalt prices remain low.
Connon said that although he’s frustrated the children do not yet have a local place to skate, he understands the town’s concerns.
“I just hope we get a rink somewhere, it’s all we can hope for. No one from the town’s against it, they just want to make sure its done right.”
Megan Burrow's e-mail address is burrow@northjersey.com.
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