Nearly 100 people showed up for a public meeting regarding the in-line skating rink at the Potomac Community Center on Tuesday night, May 28, at The Almanac's press deadline.
“I am one of the people who want to play but I can’t,” said Jason Brody, 15. The skating rink at the Potomac Community is currently open to children in the sixth grade or younger, and hours are limited. Twelve people spoke in favor of lifting the age restriction to allow high school students to play.
Neighbors say the age restrictions were rightly put in place by the Planning Board and County Executive as part of a compromise to open the rink which was built without proper notifications. They say any change now is unfair. Ten people spoke in favor of maintaining the current restrictions.
“I’m a long-time resident and played sports my whole life and coached,” said Richard Isen. “[The rink] is not intended to serve the needs of the entire county. It harms my family’s right to enjoy our property. Any increase to the age limit can make a bad situation worse.”
The last three speakers of the night spoke about the opportunity the community has now to come together and ask the county to provide more facilities in other places, such as Cabin John Regional Park.
"We need facilities for kids to play hockey,” said Cheryl Steinhart. “All of us have one vested interest here for the county to build additional facilities. Let's get together to try to push this thing forward."
The Western Area Recreation Advisory Board, a group of volunteers appointed by the county executive, which hosted the forum will meet on June 13 at the Potomac Community Center to discuss the meeting and possible recommendations to the recreation department and County Executive.
<1b>—Ken Moore