Jackson mayor, aldermen set to approve street hockey rink

At their Monday, Nov. 18, meeting, the Jackson mayor and board of aldermen received a final bid tabulation for a new concrete skating rink. This rink would become the new home for Jackson Street Hockey, a team founded by local students.

“To say that the street hockey kids are excited would be a huge understatement … they’re very, very much looking forward to this project moving forward. This fits within their budget so this will be a donation from the street hockey group. You’ll see that form come along with the contract next meeting,” Jackson Parks and Recreation director Jason Lipe told the aldermen.

Of the two bids submitted for the rink, Fronabarger Concreters of Oak Ridge submitted the lowest bid at $74,100. The aldermen said they would accept it at their next meeting, and the concrete rink will be built east of the city’s skate park.

Local high school students formed Jackson Street Hockey in 2022, playing on driveways and parking lots. Over the years, their membership expanded, and the players desired a rink of their own to play at.

“It’s always good to see a grassroots project idea come forward … it took us a while to come through the ups and downs of figuring this all out, but I’m very pleased we got a good bid now and we’ll approve that. Let’s hope the weather is good the next few months so we can get a hockey rink going for everybody,” Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs said.

Much of the project’s funding came from donations raised by players’ families. The quest for a new rink had been ongoing for the last year.

“It’s been a process. I have learned more about city government than I ever intended to, and not-for-profits,” said Angela Compton, whose son Brock helped found the club. “It’s a slow process, but every time I was ready to quit, the kids spurred me on and I’d do a little bit more.”

She said she wants the rink to serve as a place for future generations of Jackson Street Hockey skaters to practice and play.

Other business

The aldermen also dealt with a request for an additional handicapped parking space at the 100 block of North Missouri Street. A business owner had asked for a handicapped spot to have a time limit so more customers could use it instead of having an employee of a different business park their car there all day long.

The aldermen, in previous meetings, had decided on reducing it to a two-hour limit and Monday selected a different spot to turn into a handicapped spot so both customers and employees could have room. The grade of the street is consistent for the whole block, with no significant slopes, so anywhere there would have been in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“… ADA does not have restrictions with respect to on-street parking. There’s not a liability issue because there are no technical requirements or restrictions for on-street parking,” Jackson city attorney Curtis Poore said. “The idea is to keep them reasonable access, so you typically want to put them in the area that is the most flat and has the most direct route to the facilities that would be at use for that particular area.”