After crucial equipment broke down last winter, Redmond city council decided not fork out millions to shore up the aging system. That means the downtown ice rink will not open for the 2024-25 season.

But city council and the Downtown Urban Renewal Advisory Committee are considering much more significant outlays for a future rink.

During a city council work session Nov. 14, councilors and DURAC members — as well as Chuck Arnold, downtown economic development coordinator fir the city — debated the merits of three different types of permanent rinks. Those rinks ranged in cost from $4 million all the way up to $11 million. The largest of the rinks would be a permanent, year-round structure. Some of the designs allow the rink to be repurposed in summer months into a space for concerts and events.

Arnold said that members of DURAC have long been looking for ways to improve family-friendly activities in Redmond, though they were not convinced it had to be an ice rink. Both city and committee members argued that the largest of the rinks may be out of their price range and would hamper other downtown economic development programs.

“The Redmond community has frequently expressed a desire for more family-friendly activities. The Urban Renewal Plan has long allocated resources to achieve that goal,” said DURAC chair Monica Huey. “The rink has become an annual holiday tradition and we’d like to see that continued.”

Some of the designs call for the rink to be built at the current city parking lot a block south of Centennial Park. That could require the current police station, set to be abandoned after Redmond Police move to their new headquarters alongside Highway 97, to be razed and turned into a replacement parking lot. That lot is located a block north of Centennial Park and next door to the new Redmond library.

As for the temporary rink, it was installed in 2010 lasted five years longer than expected.