Allow Anne Arundel Indoor Ice Rinks to remain open
The Issue
To Governor Larry Hogan, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, Anne Arundel County Officials and Health Department,
Slowing the spread of COVID-19 is extremely important for our community. Yesterday it was announced that Anne Arundel County would be implementing increased restrictions on restaurants, businesses, and recreation starting this Wednesday, December 16, 2020. This includes the closure of indoor ice rinks.
There are two indoor ice arenas here in Anne Arundel County. One is federally owned but providing services to the general public, The McMullen Hockey Arena at the Brigade Sports Complex, and the privately owned Piney Orchard Ice Arena. Closure of the ice rinks affects a number of different groups. These include hockey, lesson programs, public skating (which never restarted at the Piney Orchard Ice Arena), and figure skating. Each of these groups have very different patterns of ice use. Hockey practice has large numbers of players closer together focused on a puck and brings different teams together for games, skating lessons also bring groups of people together for instruction and public skating is for skaters to move about the ice and many do it as social entertainment. These are all different from how figure skaters use the ice.
Figure skating is primarily an individual sport and these skaters train in sessions (referred to as freestyle sessions) with limited numbers of skaters on the ice. These skaters deliberately separate themselves in order to practice skills, work on choreography and continue to maintain and improve their skating. These sessions are also time for skaters to get one on one instruction from their coach. Until these new restrictions take effect the Piney Orchard Ice Arena allows up to 20 figure skaters into a freestyle session. Oftentimes these sessions are not full.
The Piney Orchard Ice Arena has a maximum capacity of approximately 1200 and currently lets one parent per skater/hockey player inside to watch their child on the ice on the weekend only. Midweek the skaters/players enter the rink alone for practices or freestyle sessions. There are no locker rooms open and all skaters (hockey and figure) must have their skates on when entering the building limiting the amount of time that they are in the building but not on the ice. All of these policies already help keep the numbers of people indoors together at a very low number in a very large space.
The Anne Arundel County COVID-19 safety restrictions allows for retail businesse, casinos and fitness centers to remain open at 25% capacity. Previously there was a restriction for non-essential retail businesses to limit their number of occupants based on 150 sqft per customer. A standard ice rink (as are installed at Piney Orchard) is 200’ x 85’ and an Olympic size rink is approximately 200’ x 100’ which is at the McMullen Arena. If we take the square footage of a standard rink, 17,000 sqft, then 25 people (20 skaters and 5 coaches) on the ice allows for over 650 sqft of ice per person. This is well over the minimum square footage required by other businesses last June. Also, allowing 25 persons in the Piney Orchard Arena is significantly lower than 300 which is 25% of the maximum occupancy and falls within the new restrictions being placed on fitness centers and casinos this coming week.
Anne Arundel County has classified indoor ice arenas with other entertainment types of businesses however casinos are not required to shut down and they should be classified as an entertainment business. The indoor ice arenas fall more in line with indoor fitness centers as long as they are not offering public skating sessions. Therefore it should be subject to the same restrictions and follow the 25% capacity and no group classes rule. As pointed out above, figure skating freestyle sessions follow this rule regardless of how the maximum capacity is calculated (using the entire facility capacity or calculating a capacity for the ice alone).
In addition to freestyle sessions, the rink occasionally offers stick and puck sessions. Similar to freestyle sessions, these allow hockey players to suit up and individually work on skating and skills like puck handling and shooting on a goal. Occasionally, they will also work one on one with a private coach during these sessions. Just as the figure skaters work independently, hockey players in these sessions could remain separate and with reduced risk of virus spread while the rink complies with a 25% capacity restriction.
Indoor ice arenas were already forced to close last spring. While this may not have had much of an impact on the federally owned rink at the Brigade Sports Complex, the Piney Orchard Ice Arena is privately owned, took a large financial hit and was forced to furlough many of their employees. In addition, many local figure skating coaches rely heavily on the income from private lessons as their sole income comes from coaching. The elimination of classes affects them but not being able to provide the private lessons affects their income more.
Finally, there have been no known transmissions via the Piney Orchard Ice Arena in either the figure skating or hockey communities since the rink was allowed to reopen last summer. Although there have been documented events of spread during hockey in other states, none have occurred in Maryland and there are no documented cases of transmission in figure skating anywhere. The rink has made many modifications to procedures and the physical facilities to reduce the risk of virus spread. These include those mentioned above as well as the use of a digital infrared camera station to check temperatures and record individuals entering, plexiglass shields around staff interaction areas (of which have been greatly reduced with the implementation of online reservations for sessions), cordoned pathways and marks delineating appropriate 6ft spacing, staggered session start times, and one way traffic patterns.
We propose the following:
1. Reclassify indoor ice arenas with fitness centers and apply the same restrictions.
Allow the indoor ice rinks to open at 25% capacity with no public skating, group classes, team practices, or games. This allows for continued freestyle and stick and puck sessions.
2. Skaters will adhere to the current restrictions of no bags inside, skates on before entering, and maintain a minimum of 6 ft distance at all times. In addition, we propose that all skaters be required to wear a mask at all times, even while on the ice.
3. Currently 1 parent per skater is allowed inside on the weekend. We would be willing to stop this if it allows the indoor ice rinks to remain open with the same restrictions as fitness centers.
Sincerely,
The Piney Orchard Figure Skating Team executive board and parents and skaters of Anne Arundel County Indoor Ice Arenas
Please sign this petition to support the indoor ice rinks of Anne Arundel County continue to remain open for freestyle and stick and puck sessions!
Please share this petition so others may sign and email any of the officials below to help support the effort to prevent the closure of our indoor ice rinks!
Steuart Pittman, Anne Arundel County Executive: spittman@aacounty.org
Andrew Pruski, A A County Council District 4: andrew.pruski@aacounty.org
Brian Kemmet, A A County District 4 Legislative Assistant: bkemmet@aacounty.org
Trisha L. Wolford, Anne Arundel County Fire Chief: firechief@aacounty.org
Petition Closed
The Issue
To Governor Larry Hogan, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, Anne Arundel County Officials and Health Department,
Slowing the spread of COVID-19 is extremely important for our community. Yesterday it was announced that Anne Arundel County would be implementing increased restrictions on restaurants, businesses, and recreation starting this Wednesday, December 16, 2020. This includes the closure of indoor ice rinks.
There are two indoor ice arenas here in Anne Arundel County. One is federally owned but providing services to the general public, The McMullen Hockey Arena at the Brigade Sports Complex, and the privately owned Piney Orchard Ice Arena. Closure of the ice rinks affects a number of different groups. These include hockey, lesson programs, public skating (which never restarted at the Piney Orchard Ice Arena), and figure skating. Each of these groups have very different patterns of ice use. Hockey practice has large numbers of players closer together focused on a puck and brings different teams together for games, skating lessons also bring groups of people together for instruction and public skating is for skaters to move about the ice and many do it as social entertainment. These are all different from how figure skaters use the ice.
Figure skating is primarily an individual sport and these skaters train in sessions (referred to as freestyle sessions) with limited numbers of skaters on the ice. These skaters deliberately separate themselves in order to practice skills, work on choreography and continue to maintain and improve their skating. These sessions are also time for skaters to get one on one instruction from their coach. Until these new restrictions take effect the Piney Orchard Ice Arena allows up to 20 figure skaters into a freestyle session. Oftentimes these sessions are not full.
The Piney Orchard Ice Arena has a maximum capacity of approximately 1200 and currently lets one parent per skater/hockey player inside to watch their child on the ice on the weekend only. Midweek the skaters/players enter the rink alone for practices or freestyle sessions. There are no locker rooms open and all skaters (hockey and figure) must have their skates on when entering the building limiting the amount of time that they are in the building but not on the ice. All of these policies already help keep the numbers of people indoors together at a very low number in a very large space.
The Anne Arundel County COVID-19 safety restrictions allows for retail businesse, casinos and fitness centers to remain open at 25% capacity. Previously there was a restriction for non-essential retail businesses to limit their number of occupants based on 150 sqft per customer. A standard ice rink (as are installed at Piney Orchard) is 200’ x 85’ and an Olympic size rink is approximately 200’ x 100’ which is at the McMullen Arena. If we take the square footage of a standard rink, 17,000 sqft, then 25 people (20 skaters and 5 coaches) on the ice allows for over 650 sqft of ice per person. This is well over the minimum square footage required by other businesses last June. Also, allowing 25 persons in the Piney Orchard Arena is significantly lower than 300 which is 25% of the maximum occupancy and falls within the new restrictions being placed on fitness centers and casinos this coming week.
Anne Arundel County has classified indoor ice arenas with other entertainment types of businesses however casinos are not required to shut down and they should be classified as an entertainment business. The indoor ice arenas fall more in line with indoor fitness centers as long as they are not offering public skating sessions. Therefore it should be subject to the same restrictions and follow the 25% capacity and no group classes rule. As pointed out above, figure skating freestyle sessions follow this rule regardless of how the maximum capacity is calculated (using the entire facility capacity or calculating a capacity for the ice alone).
In addition to freestyle sessions, the rink occasionally offers stick and puck sessions. Similar to freestyle sessions, these allow hockey players to suit up and individually work on skating and skills like puck handling and shooting on a goal. Occasionally, they will also work one on one with a private coach during these sessions. Just as the figure skaters work independently, hockey players in these sessions could remain separate and with reduced risk of virus spread while the rink complies with a 25% capacity restriction.
Indoor ice arenas were already forced to close last spring. While this may not have had much of an impact on the federally owned rink at the Brigade Sports Complex, the Piney Orchard Ice Arena is privately owned, took a large financial hit and was forced to furlough many of their employees. In addition, many local figure skating coaches rely heavily on the income from private lessons as their sole income comes from coaching. The elimination of classes affects them but not being able to provide the private lessons affects their income more.
Finally, there have been no known transmissions via the Piney Orchard Ice Arena in either the figure skating or hockey communities since the rink was allowed to reopen last summer. Although there have been documented events of spread during hockey in other states, none have occurred in Maryland and there are no documented cases of transmission in figure skating anywhere. The rink has made many modifications to procedures and the physical facilities to reduce the risk of virus spread. These include those mentioned above as well as the use of a digital infrared camera station to check temperatures and record individuals entering, plexiglass shields around staff interaction areas (of which have been greatly reduced with the implementation of online reservations for sessions), cordoned pathways and marks delineating appropriate 6ft spacing, staggered session start times, and one way traffic patterns.
We propose the following:
1. Reclassify indoor ice arenas with fitness centers and apply the same restrictions.
Allow the indoor ice rinks to open at 25% capacity with no public skating, group classes, team practices, or games. This allows for continued freestyle and stick and puck sessions.
2. Skaters will adhere to the current restrictions of no bags inside, skates on before entering, and maintain a minimum of 6 ft distance at all times. In addition, we propose that all skaters be required to wear a mask at all times, even while on the ice.
3. Currently 1 parent per skater is allowed inside on the weekend. We would be willing to stop this if it allows the indoor ice rinks to remain open with the same restrictions as fitness centers.
Sincerely,
The Piney Orchard Figure Skating Team executive board and parents and skaters of Anne Arundel County Indoor Ice Arenas
Please sign this petition to support the indoor ice rinks of Anne Arundel County continue to remain open for freestyle and stick and puck sessions!
Please share this petition so others may sign and email any of the officials below to help support the effort to prevent the closure of our indoor ice rinks!
Steuart Pittman, Anne Arundel County Executive: spittman@aacounty.org
Andrew Pruski, A A County Council District 4: andrew.pruski@aacounty.org
Brian Kemmet, A A County District 4 Legislative Assistant: bkemmet@aacounty.org
Trisha L. Wolford, Anne Arundel County Fire Chief: firechief@aacounty.org
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Petition created on December 11, 2020