ASHLAND -- Ice skaters could be gliding across a new rink near Lithia Park by Thanksgiving.
The Ashland Parks Commission Monday formally approved a proposal to place a 60-by-120 foot ice rink on a parking lot near the intersection of Winburn Way and Nutley Street. The parks commission also stipulated that private funds must be used to build the rink and develop the site.
The rink should cost about $200,000, according to Bow Seltzer, who presented the concept late in 1995 and returned to the parks commission Monday to announce that anonymous donors already have pledged $100,000 to build the rink.
Seltzer said the donors offered the money as a matching grant, hoping that the community would raise an additional $100,000.
The offers came without any formal fund-raising effort, said Seltzer who works with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
"The word has been out and people have been calling us," he said.
Seltzer described a portable rink that would operate for about four months per year, beginning in mid November. The freezing units would be removed during the remainder of the year so the area could be used for parking during Ashland's busy summer tourist season.
Steve Sacks, who owns the Ashland Bakery, told the parks commission the rink has won the support of many downtown merchants because they see it as an attraction to lure people downtown during the city's relatively quiet winter season.
"It's the first issue I've seen come along that everyone is excited about," Sacks said as he left the meeting.
Ashland parks director Ken Mickelsen said the rink would cost about $16,000 per year to operate. Charging a modest admission of $1 would generate some income, but not make the rink self-supporting, he said.
Mickelsen estimated that operating the rink would cost taxpayers about 1 cent to 1.5 cents for each thousand dollars of assessed valuation, or roughly $1 to $1.50 for a $100,000 house.
The project must gain final approval from the city council. The council will have to dedicate the city-owned parking lot to the parks department for park use.