Berkeley Iceland is NOT closing... for now!!!

From SFGate:

BERKELEY
Rink gets a month to modify ice making

A popular ice rink has received an extra month to improve an ice-making system that Berkeley fire officials have called "a distinct hazard to life or property."

The city had given Berkeley Iceland until Monday to remove 4,200 pounds of ammonia from its refrigeration system but has agreed to give the 65-year- old rink until Sept. 23 to install a temporary mobile refrigeration system that will allow it to operate during its hockey season.

Iceland hopes to have completed a major overhaul of its cooling system by the time the permit for that temporary system expires in April, said rink administrative manager Monte Tiedemann.

City officials threatened in December to close Iceland, at 2727 Milvia St. , because it had not improved its cooling system despite two documented leaks of toxic ammonia gas since 1998. The city later learned that the company was storing more than five times the 750 pounds of ammonia it had earlier reported.

The new mobile ice-making unit, which Tiedemann said will cost more than $100,000 to operate, will use about 800 pounds of ammonia, according to city officials. The firm renting the system to Iceland is Willy Bietak Productions Inc., which provided refrigeration for the 2002 Winter Olympic games in Salt Lake City.

The rink is a hangarlike building that opened in 1940 and covers almost a city block just west of Shattuck Avenue in South Berkeley. It is across the street from a day care center and numerous homes, and there is a high school less than a block away -- all reasons for concern by city officials.

WHEW!!! Another bullet from the city of Berkeley dodged!!! This is a big relief for me! Now I can quietly concentrate on Bronze moves! :) (I skate at this rink on weekends! It's just too DAMN crowded at all the other rinks during the week. I rely heavily on this rink for my training!)