Plans Cool Off for New Skating Rink : Recreation: Permit and funding problems are blamed for the delay. Completion of the Oxnard complex is expected by next fall.

Plans for an indoor skating rink have been put on ice until at least next fall as the developer pursues the money and city permits needed to build the project.

Despite a groundbreaking ceremony last July to begin construction of a $5-million ice-skating complex on Maulhardt Avenue near Rice Avenue, no work has commenced on the 6 1/2-acre parcel of land.

And even though the land itself has been in escrow for five months, with no estimate on when escrow will close, the parties say there will be a skating rink in Oxnard by this time next year.

“If everything is on time . . . we’re looking at March to start construction,” said Michael Paikin, president of VSC Sports, the Sherman Oaks company that wants to build the Oxnard rink.

Because construction will take four to six months, there is no point in starting now and opening in late spring--when no one is thinking of ice skating, Paikin said.

Paikin blames such problems as getting permits and reviewing blueprints for pushing back November’s anticipated opening of the ice rink.

But Stephen Maulhardt, who owns the property where the rink will be built, said he believes the developers have had problems raising funds.

The builder made a commitment to investors that the money would be raised before construction began, Maulhardt said.

“We’re working with them and anxiously waiting, because I think there’s a lot of demand here for this kind of facility,” Maulhardt said.

The 65,000-square-foot Oxnard Ice Skating Center would be the county’s second ice rink. Plans call for it to have two regulation-size ice rinks, a sports shop, food services and meeting rooms.

Organizers have said the complex will offer public skating sessions, hockey leagues and skating, dancing and aerobics classes.

Oxnard government and business officials say they are anxious for the complex to be built, and they are sure business on the ice will be brisk.

“I think it’s a wonderful venue for constructive activity,” said City Councilman Andres Herrera. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that we will get the rink.”

Don Facciano, executive director of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce, said he sees no reason for the rink project to be scrapped. “We welcome them to the community and we feel strongly they would be a success here,” Facciano said.

Herrera said city officials are willing to help the developer get the proper permits in a timely manner. Oxnard residents, many of whom now travel to rinks in Simi Valley and Burbank to take to the ice, have shown a great deal of interest in the project, the councilman said.

“It’s unfortunate that in business sometimes you hit snags,” Herrera said.

Maulhardt, who has had problems luring companies to his industrial center because of the sagging economy, said he has no concerns that the state of the marketplace will damage the ice rink’s future.

“I think entertainment is pretty bulletproof about things like that,” Maulhardt said.