Good afternoon, thank you for reaching out to the County Executive's Office with your concern about the parking lot of the Piney Orchard Ice Rink being closed. I want to clear up the misconception that the county ordered it closed. That is not true.

The county did receive some complaints that when skaters were exiting the rink they had to pass by a group of parents waiting outside that were not socially distanced nor wearing facemasks. This made some of the patrons of the ice rink uncomfortable and they reported the situation to the county. As is our practice, we did not immediately cite or fine the business, but we did communicate that we received complaints and informed them that it is their responsibility to make sure that the patrons of the ice rink are following all social distancing and face-covering guidelines. Their way of addressing this was to make the internal decision to close off the parking lot. There are other ways to ensure that social distancing and facemask rules are being followed than just closing off the parking lot. The health department has reached out to discuss other options with the management of the ice rink and we hope that the situation is resolved shortly. Thank you. - JR

The rink management/ownership is making these decisions.