The much needed repairs and improvements for NedRINK must be paid for with grants, which require a consultant to determine the "long-term viability" of the recreational asset.

Photo by Christopher Kelley

NEDERLAND — Over the weekend, temperatures in Nederland dropped as low as 18 degrees F during the day, and 3 degrees at night, with wind chills of -26 degrees, but unfortunately the extreme shift from the so-far unseasonably warm winter was not enough for the Parks Department’s efforts to prepare the town’s ice rink for winter recreation. 

On Monday, January 26, despite the breeze roaring through the mountains, the large outdoor ice rink at NedRINK—a Town-owned recreational asset located up at 500 Indian Peaks Drive—was still damp, as the cloudless sky and beaming sunshine hampered Town staff’s attempt to resurface the rink. 

Parks Department Manager Nicki Dunn stated that her team is up at the rink every day, putting water down in hopes that the weather will cooperate, but with each day that passes it becomes less likely that NedRINK will open in 2026 at all. 

“We were optimistic around Thanksgiving and thought that we’d actually get the ice rink open early,” Town Manager Jonathan Cain said just a week prior, on January 21, during an informational presentation to the Board of Trustees (BOT) regarding the rink. “Then we had the warm spell, which has made it difficult to prepare the ice properly. It’s kind of been a challenge for us this year.

“We’re not 100% sure if we’re going to be able to open the rink,” Cain surmised, “but we continue to monitor the weather, and if we get a window we will definitely be out there making ice.”

The situation had been monitored by Dunn and the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Board (PROSAB) since September of 2025, when initial discussions began regarding a proposal to the BOT to consider renting an industrial chiller system for the rink for the upcoming winter season.  

During a Quarterly Grants Update, provided by Cain on December 16, 2025, it was stated that Town staff had been working with PROSAB to identify potential funding opportunities for improvements to NedRINK’s resurfacing process, which could include some sort of roof, covering, chiller system, or sunshade installation. 

PROSAB claimed as a major goal for 2025 finding grants for such a project. Preliminary work on a concept design for proposed updates to NedRINK had been stalled in 2024 as a result of complications between Town staff, members of PROSAB, and community groups representing users of both the ice rink and the tennis court.

The concept design was a requirement for applying for Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grant funds to pay for the project. The public committee expected to cooperate on a concept design was so counterproductive, according to Dunn, that Nederland’s Town Administrator at the time walked away from discussions, and a mediator was hired in an attempt to bring order. 

“We’re going to create the concept paper for the facility that works for our town citizens, not what's best for one group or another,” Dunn said about NedRINK improvements during a PROSAB meeting in April of 2024. “It has to be the best thing for the facility in order to sustain the Parks Department.”

It was determined at that time that the public committee would be disbanded, and that the responsibility of drafting a concept design for NedRINK improvements would belong to PROSAB and Town staff.

No GOCO grant was awarded to Nederland in 2024 for the NedRINK project. However, Cain believes that there is an opportunity to apply in the 2026 GOCO cycle, which would award funds to add to Town’s already budgeted $140,000, specifically allocated for a “recreation-oriented project.”

The project would not only tackle the ice rink’s resurfacing issues, but would also include specific “site improvements,” which would strengthen NedRINK’s capabilities to provide year-round recreation. 

During the BOT meeting on January 21, Cain and some Trustees listed the possibilities for expanded recreation programs and events at NedRINK, including roller skating, movie nights, summer barbecues, and more for the already offered racquet sports, mainly tennis and pickleball. 

According to Cain, however, applying for the GOCO grant in 2026 requires that the Town hire a consultant to evaluate the “best use of funds with a focus on ice preservation and long-term viability.”

The consultant would provide the BOT with guidance after considering the cost of certain proposals like an industrial chiller system for the ice rink, compared to the amount of revenue projected when the rink could be open longer through the winter. 

“One of the big advantages of a chiller is it would give us the opportunity to be predictably open, which would allow us to schedule events, tournaments, and any other hockey activities that need to be scheduled ahead of time,” Trustee Luke Miller said during the January meeting. He is also the Board liaison to PROSAB. 

Unfortunately, as the size of NedRINK was classified as “near-Olympic,” the cost of such a large-scale chiller could be anywhere between $250,000 to $2 million, and would also require some major upgrades to the facility’s power infrastructure.  

NedRINK generated a total of $15,000 in revenue in 2025, having operated for just six weeks out of the entire year. But revenue is not the only thing lost by an unseasonably warm winter keeping the town’s only ice rink from opening: Peak to Peak Endurance’s (P2PE) hockey program for the youth of the area also relies on NedRINK. 

 P2PE notes on their website that their Peak to Peak Hockey schedule and venue for games are subject to change based on weather conditions, and that typically only three games a season are scheduled at NedRINK in advance for mid-to-late January, while practice primarily takes place at a private hockey rink in Boulder. 

This year’s Peak to Peak Ice Bash Hockey Tournament was cancelled. This would have featured 24 teams of men and women, ages 16 and up, facing off in a “round robin” format. It was postponed until 2027 due to the warm winter affecting NedRINK’s resurfacing.   

Trustees stated during the January meeting they were generally in favor of Town staff finding the money to hire a consultant to help guide the process for another concept design creation for a GOCO grant application in 2026. 

Dunn has reportedly already been in contact with a Minnesota-based company, though all candidates for the consultant position will be presented to the BOT for review and a final determination as to which one the Town will hire. 

As for how the Town plans to engage the public for feedback regarding improvements to NedRINK, Cain added that a “Coffee Talk” will be scheduled at some point as an informal discussion with Nederland residents on the topic.