New women's locker room, coming to Ralph Walker.
With words of praise for “gender equality,” local land-use commissioners voted in support of a plan to build a locker room for Albertus Magnus College’s women’s hockey team that mirrors that of facilities already available to the school’s men’s hockey team, at a publicly owned ice rink in East Rock.
They took that vote last Wednesday during the latest monthly online meeting of the City Plan Commission.
The commissioners unanimously approved the City of New Haven’s site plan and coastal site plan applications for the construction of a 2,280 square-foot addition to the Ralph Walker Ice Skating Rink at 1080 State St.
As City Engineer Giovanni Zinn and Albertus Magnus College Vice President James Schafrick explained, this proposed addition will include space for the local Catholic college’s women’s hockey team locker room, as well as associated restrooms, a coach’s office, and storage space.
The addition would be “the exact same square-footage as the men’s locker room,” Schafrick said.
The city has been partnering with Albertus Magnus at the Ralph Walker rink since 2018. Last year, Albertus received a state grant to construct the new locker room for its women’s hockey team, which is in its second year of operations.
Right now, Schafrick said, the women’s team uses “a portable trailer” at the city-owned skating complex.
Schafrick framed the women’s locker room buildout as a matter of “gender equality,” by creating a facility for the women’s team that is comparable to that already in place for the men’s team.
“I think this is excellent. Gender equality is very important,” City Plan Commission Chair Ernest Pagan said, before voting in support of the proposal along with the rest of his colleagues. He said he has a nine-year-old daughter who is “very active” and loves sports. This type of project, he said, is “very inspiring.”
What’s the “hoped-for timeline for the construction of this addition?” Westville Alder and Commissioner Adam Marchand asked.
Ideally, Schafrick said, the new women’s locker room will open by the fall of 2026. He said that the architectural team is already in place, and the college is about to send out a request for proposals (RFP) for a construction manager.
“A year and a half for this is probably a good timeframe,” Zinn agreed. He said there should be “very little impact” to the operations of the public skating rink during construction.
New locker room addition in purple.