New England skating complex breaks the ice : In a region where development gets a cold shoulder, Simsbury, Conn., warms up to the project after Olympic stars sign on.

In a region where the word “development” is usually uttered with contempt, builder Stephen Fish has found an unlikely ally in Olympic skating superstar Oksana Baiul.

With the help of the Ukranian-born Baiul and her reputation, Fish has persuaded this town’s approximately 25,000 citizens to allow him to do what under ordinary circumstances would be unthinkable--build a giant ice-skating complex.

Fish is completing construction of the 70,000-square-foot building this week with the enthusiastic support of the town fathers, who have offered him a two-year tax abatement and more than $300,000 in town-funded improvements.

A Simsbury resident, Fish was surprised by the ease with which he succeeded in defeating the town’s vocal, well-organized opponents of development. In recent years, he says, their “stiff-shirted New England attitudes” had forced him to delay or alter at least three residential projects here.

In New England, virtually every major development proposal precipitates a battle pitting builder against citizens, Fish says. “The developer is mistrusted; the homeowner can lie in a heartbeat.”

Founded in the 1670s, Simsbury, like most long-established New England towns, recoils whenever it is presented with a proposal for large-scale real estate development. As a result, the nearest movie theater and shopping mall are no less than 40 minutes away by car.

Economic hard times have come to this town, brought on by the collapse of defense-related manufacturing business and setbacks in the insurance industry, headquartered in nearby Hartford. But commercial developers--even those with national clout, such as Walmart--still have met with nothing but hostility from an unswerving population whose primary goal is to preserve the quaint character of New England.

What Fish has learned recently could help other New England developers: Even the staunchest of preservationists love celebrities, and particularly an Olympic skating champion.

Simsbury residents are excited that the new facility will be used by Olympic skaters such as Baiul and Viktor Petrenko, as well as other skating stars who are committed to using the rink for their regular practice sessions.

Olympic coach Bob Young observes that the feud between skaters Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan--which played out in the newspaper headlines as Fish was trying to win support for his new facility--focused attention on the sport of ice skating and helped promote Fish’s proposal.

“It was a good thing for us,” Young said.

When development opponents threatened to kill Fish’s request to build the skating facility at the north end of Simsbury, a record number of residents came out for a special town meeting, many of them determined to express their support for the project.

In fact, the meeting drew such a crowd that fire marshals had to turn people away. The ensuing flap caused the board of selectmen to appoint a task force to recommend ways to make Simsbury’s town-meeting system of government more democratic.

In a subsequent referendum demanded by opponents of the ice-skating facility, the town voted, 4 to 1, in favor of the proposal--an outcome that surprised everyone, especially Fish.

Yet despite this outpouring of support, Fish was nervous. He initially decided to start small by postponing construction of the skyboxes overlooking the Olympic practice rink and the adjacent hockey rink.

But when more than 2,000 people showed up for the groundbreaking ceremony in April--at which Baiul presided--he changed his mind and set about building the entire facility in 14 weeks, with construction crews working seven days a week.

As the building was being completed this week, Simsbury residents were swarming about in hopes of getting an opportunity to peek inside the facility--and perhaps catch a glimpse of Baiul, who has taken up residency in Simsbury along with Petrenko, their coach, Galina Zmievskaya, and Petrenko’s wife, Nina, a choreographer for skaters.

Zmievskaya will be director of the singles skating program. Young, a native of the area who persuaded Fish to locate the facility in Simsbury because he wanted to spend more time with his 80-year-old parents, will serve as president, executive director and head of the pairs program.

Other Olympians scheduled to use the facility for practice on a regular basis are Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov.

Such big names have drawn other potential patrons to the skating facility, including several well-regarded Olympic aspirants. And mothers and fathers from miles around are bringing their children to sign up for the Learn-to-Skate program, hoping to groom their own stars.

As a result, says Young, ice time for the coming season is already completely booked.

Even non-skaters are seeking to come to the facility, just to watch the Olympians practice. To satisfy them, Fish is promising that the 1,700 seats around the rehearsal rink will be open to the public under certain, as yet unspecified, conditions.

Fish recently agreed to spend $1,390 each for six flag poles that were not in the original plan. The poles will be used to fly the flags of Ukraine and the native countries of the other stars skating here.