While working on your spring cleaning, did you happen to come across your son\u2019s old roller blades? You know, those ones that don\u2019t fit any longer.
\nIf so, the borough of Tyrone sure could use them.
\nAt Monday\u2019s meeting of borough council, members voted 7-1 in favor of awarding a $140,000 bid to Krieger Construction of Duncansville to construct an inline hockey rink near the community pool. Now, borough officials are looking to the community to help with supplying equipment.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re just asking that if anyone in the community has old roller blades, knee pads, helmets or hockey sticks, and they don\u2019t have a use for them, to bring them down to my office,\u201d said Tyrone Mayor Patricia S. Stoner. \u201cOur new hockey rink is going to provide another recreational activity for the children in the area, but we understand that some of these youngsters can\u2019t afford the equipment necessary for the game.\u201d
\nAccording to Stoner, the borough hopes to stockpile such equipment, and have it readily available for the people who want to use it.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had some donations already and we\u2019re hoping more come rolling in here in the near future,\u201d said Stoner, noting that cash donations are also welcome.
\nThe project entails the construction of a slightly smaller than regulation sized rink. Plans call for a 165-foot long facility, measuring 65-feet wide. Stoner said the rink couldn\u2019t be completed to regulation size in fear that a water pipe nestled in the same parcel of land would be disrupted or damaged.
\n\u201cUp there now is a horrible looking site. It\u2019s an eyesore,\u201d said Stoner. \u201cWhen this is finished, it will be landscaped and be a nice attractive entry to our wonderful park.\u201d
\nThe surface area of the rink will be constructed from asphalt and will be surrounded with batterboards harboring a fence to keep puck inside the play area. There will also be benches for the players and even penalty boxes. Just outside the playing area, an asphalt walkway will circle the facility, providing a perfect walking path for those who enjoy that type of exercise.
\nStoner said that if the sport catches on, a possibility exists that bleachers would be installed for on-lookers.
\nThere are no plans for lighting the court, and noted that it would close each evening at the same time Reservoir Park closes.
\nStoner also said that anyone playing roller hockey inside the rink, will be required to wear the proper equipment, including knee and elbow pads and helmets. The borough also holds liability insurance for the facility.
\n\u201cThe reason we chose the site that we did was because we wanted the young children out where we could see them,\u201d said Stoner. \u201cWe want it to be a safe place. We could have decided to build further up in the park, but if the kids aren\u2019t in plain site, anything could happen.\u201d
\nThe construction will occur on the site that currently houses the sand volleyball court. Stoner said that recreational activity will be moved to the other end of Reservoir Park. She said that mostly, the older kids and adults use that facility.
\nThe idea of the hockey rink has been brewing in council chambers for quite some time. Problems with a bid package caused the governing body to push the project back earlier this year, and following that incident, the bids came in much more over budget than expected. Finally, council agreed on a $140,000 bid by Krieger Construction, although this came in over bid as well.
\nStoner said the $50,000 difference was transferred from the capital fund. Prior to the transfer, this account held $200,000, earmarked for improvements to the community pool.
\n\u201cThis is where we had to pull the money from,\u201d said Stoner. \u201cWe needed to do this rather quickly or we would have lost the funding. The money in the capital fund was to be used for improvements to the pool, but the improvements needed there aren\u2019t urgent.\u201d
\nThe project will begin as soon as Krieger Construction finds time in its busy schedule, according to Stoner. She hopes for the facility to be completed by the end of July.
\n\u201cSure, we would like it done as quickly as possible, but we also want it done professionally,\u201d said Stoner. \u201cIf we have to wait an extra week for that, than so be it. It will be worth it.\u201d
\nStoner said she hopes the inline hockey program generates as much interest as the soccer program did when it began a couple of years ago.
\n\u201cWhen we started the soccer program, there were 50 kids in the program,\u201d said Stoner. \u201cNow we have more than 200 kids playing soccer up there. I feel this sport (inline hockey) will be every bit as successful as soccer in this area.\u201d
\nStoner praised the residents of the community for making the soccer program so successful. She said these residents have volunteered the time to provide coaching for kids aged five through 14.
\n\u201cWe already have people interested in taking a lead on this project and wanting to help out with some coaching,\u201d said Stoner, noting Tyrone Borough Police Chief Joe Beachem has mentioned his interest in helping out. Anyone interested in assisting with the program is encouraged to contact the borough at 684-1330.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While working on your spring cleaning, did you happen to come across your son\u2019s old roller blades? You know, those ones that don\u2019t fit any longer. If so, the borough of Tyrone sure could use them. At Monday\u2019s meeting of borough council, members voted 7-1 in favor of awarding a $140,000 bid to Krieger Construction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}