Irvine to Begin Negotiations on Roller Hockey Rink

The city will begin negotiations with a company partly owned by ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky for construction of a roller hockey rink in the new Civic Center Park.

But the decision to negotiate with San Diego-based Worldwide Roller Hockey Facilities Inc. has drawn strong objections from the owner of a nearby roller hockey business and its patrons, who say the deal is unfair competition.

Two outdoor rinks are proposed for a 5.5-acre parcel of the 36-acre Civic Center Park planned on Barranca Parkway. The site is just a few miles south of the Irvine Hockey Club, which opened in January 1995 to meet a boom in roller hockey’s popularity.

“Any way you look at it, it is a joint venture,” hockey club owner Bruce Silverman said. “The city would be in direct competition with our facility. We had plans to expand, which are now on hold.”

City Councilman Barry J. Hammond said the city’s involvement is limited to the leasing of land and emphasized the city will not subsidize the new business.

“I don’t see this as unfair competition,” Hammond said. “This is by no means unprecedented.”

Councilman Greg Smith disagreed, casting the only vote against the proposal at last week’s council meeting.

Smith said the cost of leasing park property likely would be lower than that in surrounding commercial areas such as the one where the Irvine Hockey Club is located.

“This is a one-time opportunity for that one developer,” Smith said of the Gretzky group. “There are no situations like this that exist anywhere else in the city.”