STATEN ISLAND — The borough president has tapped the brakes on plans to give a 15-year contract to the temporary operators of the go-kart facility in Emerson Hill until he can secure a guarantee they will not tear down a hockey rink on the site.
The city was expected to sign off on the contract last week for NY Carousel to take over and renovate the outdoor go-kart park at 215 Schmidts Lane, but it was pulled from consideration at the request of Borough President James Oddo to make sure the roller hockey rink there isn't demolished.
"I want the rink to be protected for the duration of the new concession term," said Oddo. "There's a viable use for this, there's a lot of people of all ages who use the rink. I think ripping it down is silly."
However, the operator of the site said his company has no plans to demolish the rink and will meet with Oddo next week to make that point clear.
"We are very excited about having hockey at the Staten Island FunPark and we have plans to upgrade the rink," said Ami Abramson, one of NY Carousel's directors. "Our intention is to have hockey there, it is a great use of the space."
Earlier this year, NY Carousel won a contract from the city to run the outdoor go-kart park at 215 Schmidts Lane, which they renamed Staten Island FunPark, and opened under a temporary use agreement with the Parks Department earlier this month.
Island Youth Hockey Association, which runs the borough's only indoor roller hockey league at the site and put money into maintenance of the rink, was told the new operators planned to rip down the rink and went to the borough president for help, Oddo said.
The directors of the league did not respond to request for comments this week.
According to Oddo, the contract between the Parks Department and NY Carousel only calls to keep the rink up for a year then NY Carousel would re-evaluate if it will remain.
“I was quite annoyed, having made it clear that I wanted to see this facility continue, that despite verbal assurances there was going to be an agreement that only protected it for one year,” said Oddo. “They really slapped at the hornet’s nest.”
Abramson said he already offered the rink to the league under his temporary agreement, but the league organizers haven't yet obtained the permit from the city to start playing.
A spokeswoman for the Parks Department said they're working with Oddo to address his concerns about the site.
Since NY Carousel temporarily took over the site, they already pumped close to $200,000 in renovations at the venue, redoing the snack bar, making mechanical repairs to the go-karts and paving the track, Abramson said.
In 2015, the Parks Department put out a Request for Proposals to run and update the outdoor space. Its former operator, Michael Mancusi, did not re-apply to continue running the spot, Parks previously said.
The hearing to approve the 15-year contract has been pushed to the Franchise and Concession Review Committee's May 10 meeting.
