City Land Leased for Roller Hockey Rink

A split City Council voted this week to lease land near the planned Civic Center park to a private roller hockey rink operator.

The 3-2 vote came over the objections of a nearby roller hockey rink owner, who said the deal amounts to a taxpayer-funded subsidy of a private business.

The city will lease an irregularly shaped 4.5-acre site--bounded by the San Diego Creek, Peter’s Canyon Channel and Barranca Parkway--to Worldwide Roller Hockey Facilities.

The Canadian company plans to build a Wayne Gretzky Roller Hockey Center on the site and will pay the city 3.5% of the profits or a minimum $5,000 a month.

Bruce Silverman, owner of the 19-month-old Irvine Hockey Club, said the lease rate is unfairly low and could threaten the future of his business. Silverman said Wednesday that he will take legal action against the city to block the deal.

“We don’t have a problem with competing, but we have to be paying the same thing our competitors pay or we’re out of luck,” Silverman said. “They’re going to have a nicer, bigger facility, which is forcing us to put our expansion plans on hold.”

Silverman said he pays about $10,000 a month to a private owner to lease a 23,000-square-foot building on a 1.2-acre site at Kelvin and Murphy avenues, about half a mile from the planned Gretzky hockey rink.

Silverman said he withdrew a bid to lease the city-owned property because it initially appeared that the “fair market” lease rate could be as much as $300,000 a year.

Councilwoman Paula Werner, who voted with Mayor Mike Ward and Councilman Barry Hammond to approve the deal, said the lease rate is fair, considering the location and odd shape of the lot.

“I’m really amazed, in fact, that a business wants to make a go of it,” Werner said. “Apparently, this roller hockey group thinks that they can.”