A Montgomery County, Maryland, man is fighting to preserve a hockey rink he built in honor of his late stepdaughter.
Marc Kohn has held a passion for hockey since childhood.
"I grew up in a small town in the Boston area, played on the ponds and backyard rinks, so I’ve been playing my whole life," he said.
He shared his passion with his stepdaughter Melanie Osborne.
“If it was like a Friday night, we'd have pizza and puck nights,” he said. “That was one of her favorite things."
Osborne succumbed to a respiratory disease in July at age 35.
Kohn figured building a hockey rink behind his Poolesville home and naming it Mel’s Rink would be a fitting way to remember her. He was intent on sharing it with the community, and word spread via Facebook and word of mouth.
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Kohn spent almost $40,000 and 400 hours building the rink, which is about 2,100 square feet with regulation goals. There are team benches painted red and blue. The synthetic ice works with skates or shoes. Since real ice wouldn’t last in our weather, "It's a half-inch thick ultra-high-density polyethylene plastic," Kohn said.
But the synthetic rink is on thin ice, as far as Montgomery County is concerned. The property is part of the county's agricultural reserve -- 93,000 acres of protected green space -- and there are limits and guidelines governing its usage, even on private property.
“The rink is being promoted for public use, rather than personal use, which raises concerns about public safety, community impacts and compatibility with the agricultural reserve,” the director of Montgomery County's Department of Permitting Services said in a statement.
County officials issued Kohn a violation and told him to take down lights above the rink and a Facebook page where he posted skate times and other news, The Washington Post reported.
Diane Schwartz Jones, with the department of permitting services, wants to meet with Kohn to discuss the rink's future, but it seems clear people won't be allowed to just show up anytime to skate. Those who have already discovered the rink will likely want the inspectors in the penalty box.
County officials said they sympathize with Kohn's reasons for building the rink.
He has already dealt with some of the county's concerns, and county inspectors went to the rink earlier this week.
Technically, the county hasn't shut the rink down, and it's unknown whether that will happen.
Kohn is asking via a GoFundMe page for help covering legal expenses. As of Tuesday evening, he had raised about $2,800 toward a $20,000 goal.
