By Scott Raider
Daily Mail Staff
Charleston Daily Mail, Thursday, September 22, 1999

Plans for a skating rink in South Charleston have been on ice for the past couple of months, but Mayor Richie Robb wants the rink to be a hot topic again.

Robb said Wednesday the city's Area Development Corp. is in the final stages of a deal with FMC Corp. that would bring close to 25 acres to the city. Four of those acres are marked to be donated to city government, and that's where Robb's dream of an ice rink may come true. The property is on the Kanawha River side of MacCorkle Avenue close to D Street.

"Getting the property appears to be favorable, Robb said.

He met with FMC officials Tuesday morning to talk over the arrangements and go through paperwork concerning the property.

Robb in November will make a proposal to City Council which will include a revenue study, bond proposal and other plans for the $3.2 million rink. The original plans for the rink were given to the city in June by Charleston Mayor Jay Goldman.

The final cost and how the city will pay for the rink are questions Robb hopes to answer in November. He will propose the city sell municipal bonds to cover the cost, with payments of about $200,000 a year. The bond payments would be made from rink revenue, he said.

Council Finance Chairman Carrels Williams said the revenue cannot possibly pay the yearly cost of the bonds.

"I read a study done in July on the proposed Charleston rink that said there isn't an ice rink in the state that breaks even on a yearly basis," Williams' said. "The projected revenue from that study said that it would only make about $15,000 a year after expenses."

Williams hopes that the city can provide recreation for its residents but complains that the city already takes a loss on other recreation areas such as the community center and various parks.

"We lose close to $1 million a year on the community center," he said.

Williams also has doubts about the time frame of building the rink. In his opinion it would take close to two years to build the rink. Robb says the rink could be ready for next season.

"I think negotiations for the property will take longer also," Williams said. "I wonder how much of a cleanup will have to be done and whether we can even build something there."

Steve Weir, president of the development corporation, said he thinks it will take two or three weeks for all of the details to be worked out. Weir, like Robb, remains optimistic the deal will go through smoothly.

"The (area development corporation) is looking at putting some kind of light industrial park on the remaining 21 acres," Weir said, "We would like to put as many high-paying jobs on that site as possible."

The property has been identified as a Brownfield site, which means FMC is working with the state Division of Environmental Protection to set standards for cleanup. It will be among the first such sites in the state.

Weir said FMC is in the process of identifying problem areas, but there does not appear to be any significant cleanup still to be done.

FMC also will move a small process facility from the property to the Rhone-Poulenc AG Co. in Institute. There would be a cost of about $8 million to move the plant, and Robb has said the city could help with that in some way.

"They need about $500,000 more to remove the facility, but I have made no cash commitments," Robb said.

While the ice rink negotiations continue, plans for recreation in the city abound. The Finance Committee is considering plans for a water park, and there also has been talk of a golf course. Both projects could end up in the Spring Hill area.

Robb said he supports all projects that would benefit the people in South Charleston.

"I think council is most interested in the numbers," Robb said. "They want to see the figures and how they would work."