ESCONDIDO — The city is moving forward with plans to construct an indoor ice rink at Kit Carson Park following the City Council’s approval of a memorandum of understanding with the project’s developer.
The Escondido City Council unanimously approved the MOU with The Rinks Foundation on June 3 to explore placing the proposed ice rink in Kit Carson Park. The facility would be fully funded, constructed and operated by the organization.
The foundation is a nonprofit that operates eight hockey and skating facilities across Southern California, including The Rinks – Poway ICE in Poway and Great Park Ice in Irvine. Henry and Susan Samueli, owners of the Anaheim Ducks and San Diego Gulls, are the philanthropists behind The Rinks Foundation.
The MOU establishes a nonbinding framework for the city and the foundation to work together to evaluate the feasibility of building the ice rink at the south end of Kit Carson Park, where the city’s adult softball complex is currently located.
If approved, the project would require relocating the adult softball complex to another location in the city. Francis Ryan Park has been identified as a potential relocation site, and The Rinks Foundation would contribute $4 million toward moving the softball facilities.
The MOU does not approve the ice rink project. Instead, it authorizes further exploration of the concept, including additional community outreach and public input.
The City Council is also expected to consider a lease agreement this summer that would provide the foundation with additional assurance to continue pursuing the project.
Under the MOU, the lease would run for 25 years following construction, with five options to extend the agreement by four years each, potentially allowing for a total lease term of 45 years. After the lease expires, ownership of the facility would revert to the city.
The facility would also designate a yet-to-be-determined number of operating hours each month for public programming.
The proposed rink would be modeled after Great Park Ice, a $115 million, 280,000-square-foot facility featuring four sheets of ice and a 2,500-seat arena. The Irvine venue is the largest community ice rink in California, attracting more than 1 million participants and visitors annually.
According to Matthew Hicks, who spoke on behalf of The Rinks Foundation at the council meeting, interest in ice sports has grown significantly in Southern California, with youth hockey participation increasing 40% and women’s hockey participation increasing 200% over the past decade.
Many local families currently travel long distances during early-morning and late-night hours to access ice facilities due to limited rink availability in the region.
“A new facility in Escondido would help meet that demand locally,” Hicks said.
The local skating community lost a major venue when the Escondido Ice-Plex permanently closed in 2020.
If constructed, the new facility would serve as the official training facility for the San Diego Gulls, the American Hockey League affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks.
The rink would feature three sheets of ice — one more than the former Escondido Ice-Plex.
Many residents spoke in support of the proposal, including 15-year-old Penny Cordero, a freshman at Orange Glen High School who regularly skates in Poway.
“Building a rink so much closer will open up so many opportunities for local teams,” she said.
Some residents supported the project but objected to its proposed location.
“This is a great thing, it’s going to do a lot – I think the location sucks,” said Lisa Richards, who suggested building the rink on commercial property rather than public parkland.
Other residents who live near Kit Carson Park expressed concerns about traffic impacts. The park area already experiences significant congestion at certain times of day due to its proximity to Interstate 15 and several nearby schools.
Richards also raised concerns about the project’s potential impact on the park’s natural environment.
Mayor Dane White said those concerns are valid and reasonable, noting that he was initially skeptical when he first learned about the proposal.
“I believe that taking this step will allow us an opportunity to address those concerns, especially around the community benefit and environment,” White said.
In addition to the ice rinks, the facility would include a restaurant, outdoor training space and other amenities for the community.
