On October 20, the Cape Elizabeth Planning Board unanimously approved a site plan amendment for what the town calls a "permanent four-season open-air ice arena" at the end of Gull Crest Drive. In the same vote, the board limited that approval to five months of the year.
Both facts matter for this winter. The project now has the town's approval, and it remains a winter project. Nothing new will be built before skating starts. When Cape Community Arena Group opens on December 9, skaters will use the same outdoor full sheet they have skated on since the rink moved to Gull Crest in January 2023. The permanent arena is being scheduled around that rink. The approval is written for the skating season, and construction is planned for the months between seasons. That makes Season 5 the last winter before work begins on the site.
An approval written for the skating season
The town's account of the October 20 meeting explains the five-month limit. Board members were concerned that parking and noise impacts had not been studied. So they restricted the approval to the arena's core operating season, November through March. If the facility hosts events outside that window, the Cape Community Arena Group, or CCAG, will need to come back to the board for another site plan amendment.
Parking took up much of the discussion. A traffic consultant estimated the arena needs 109 spaces, and the redesigned lot has 97. Project representatives argued that the estimate was conservative. Their point was that the rink runs in winter, while Gull Crest's heaviest traffic comes from spring and fall field sports, so the two rarely compete for spaces.
The board added three conditions:
- A sidewalk on the southern side of Gull Crest Drive. The town and CCAG are to develop and build it together.
- Code compliance for every building on the site. This includes the temporary warming hut and Zamboni storage. It came up after the Code Enforcement Officer and Fire Chief raised questions about heated temporary tents.
- An accessible bathroom. It must be available through all four phases of construction and operation.
The Town Council handled the land underneath the rink. At an October 19 workshop, councilors voted unanimously to show that the town is prepared to lease the Gull Crest site to CCAG. They directed the Town Manager to negotiate the remaining responsibilities. Several councilors described the parking and infrastructure problems at Gull Crest as existing municipal issues and supported sharing the cost of the sidewalk. Final approval of the lease was on the Council's agenda for November 4, the night before this post was published.
Construction happens between skating seasons
CCAG's building plan follows the same calendar. The arena will be built in four phases, each running March through November, so the work stays outside the skating season. The plan was designed with Waterhouse Design, and each phase has to stand on its own. CCAG says plainly that "the rink you skate on today stays in service while this happens."
Seen alongside the winters, the schedule looks like this:
| Period | At Gull Crest |
|---|---|
| December 9, 2026 to March 7, 2027 | Season 5 on the current outdoor rink |
| March to November 2027 | Phase 1: parking lot moved closer to the ball fields, stormwater work with three new biofilter beds, footings and frost wall, and a permanent replacement for the town storage building. Estimated at $1.4 million |
| Winter 2027 to 2028 | Skating continues on the existing rink |
| March to November 2028 | Phase 2: water, sewer and electric service, plus the concrete ice slab with embedded coolant lines, almost all below grade |
| March to November 2029 | Phase 3: steel frame, roof, solar array, and conditioned space for utilities, the Zamboni and public bathrooms. The sides are still open |
| March to November 2030 | Phase 4: enclosure, insulation, interior finishes and final paving |
CCAG estimates the full project at $5 million to $7 million. When the Council extended CCAG's memorandum of understanding in July, the town reported a $5 million estimate and said construction could start in spring 2027. CCAG says Phase 1 will be paid for with a construction loan, that the later phases still need funding, and that no phase will start until its funding is in hand.
Since all of Phase 1 is site work, the first visible change at Gull Crest will be a rebuilt parking lot and a new town storage building. If Phase 1 keeps to its target, Season 5 is the last winter the site looks the way it has since 2023.
November 14: a western night for the barn
The season's first event comes almost four weeks before the ice. On Saturday, November 14, CCAG holds Hockey-Tonk: Help Us Build the Barn at the Purpoodock Club. It's the one event of the season not held at Gull Crest. The evening runs 6:30 to 10 p.m., with music, games, prizes, a mechanical bull and a live auction at 7:30. Early-bird tickets have sold out. General admission is $125, or $150 at the door if any remain. When buying a ticket, guests choose their neighborhood, and the neighborhood that sells the most tickets wins a private skate and pizza party.
"The barn" is the permanent arena. The rink's two budgets matter here, because CCAG keeps them separate. The capital campaign page showed $1,038,636 raised toward a $7 million Founders goal, and CCAG states that capital money does not cover rink operations. Operations come from a season fund with a $200,000 goal, and its online counter showed $40,400 raised this fall. That fund pays for the current season's ice, programs and free public skating. CCAG says it raised $460,000 during 2025 to 2026, split evenly between operations and capital.
December 9 is the first ice, and December 10 is the party
The first sessions on CCAG's online schedule are on Wednesday, December 9. The opening-week Wednesday includes a no-sticks skate from 8 to 10 a.m., a mixed-use skate from noon to 4 p.m., a family skate from 4:30 to 6 p.m., and a mixed-use evening skate from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The opening-night First Skate Celebration follows on Thursday, December 10. There are no tickets and no registration, and a food truck will be on site.
Because the rink is outdoors, the weather has the final say. CCAG updates the schedule weekly and sometimes adjusts or cancels sessions. Changes are posted on the season schedule and on the rink's social channels. Texting JOIN to 207-280-7020 signs a phone up for schedule alerts.
After opening night, the events calendar for the winter includes:
- Skate with Santa and Friends, Saturday, December 19, registration required
- New Year's Youth Pond Hockey Tournament, December 31 to January 1, for U10, U12 and U14 teams over winter break
- Adult Winter Classic Pond Hockey Tournament, January 8 and 9, Gold and Silver divisions under the lights, with Sunday, January 10 held as a weather backup
- MLK Day Youth Pond Hockey Tournament, Monday, January 18, run by youth volunteers
- Mites Winter Classic Cross-Ice, Sundays, January 24 and 31, with February 7 as the weather backup
- Ladies Winter Classic Pond Hockey Tournament, Saturday, January 30, from 4 to 10 p.m.
The ice is free, and the programs are what fill it
Open skate costs nothing. Family sessions are stick-free and puck-free, and mixed-use sessions allow sticks and pucks in designated areas. Freestyle ice for figure skaters is paid: $10 for 25 minutes, $20 for 50 minutes or $30 for 75 minutes.
The rest of the winter is organized by age:
- Learning to skate: Super Skate for ages 3 to 12, plus beginner and power-skating classes. All Star All Skate is for skaters with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Golden Edge is for adults, and Creative Movement on Ice rounds out the classes.
- Youth hockey: Learn to Play for ages 6 to 12, and a co-ed development program for grades 1 through 8. The development program holds skills and drills on Tuesdays and Thursdays and volunteer-led pond hockey on Wednesdays. It costs $300 per player plus transaction fees, includes a reversible jersey, and runs December 15 through February 11.
- High school: The Cape Elizabeth High School boys' and girls' teams get extra home-ice time, and the players volunteer with children's programs and rink maintenance.
- Adults: A Wednesday women's league costs $100 for 13 planned skates. A men's league runs four weekly sessions at beginner-intermediate and intermediate-advanced levels for $300, and drop-ins for either league are $20. On Wednesday mornings there is free drop-in pond hockey for skaters 60 and older.
The numbers show how much use the outdoor sheet already gets. Gull Crest's first season logged more than 430 ice hours. The 2025 to 2026 season logged more than 670, including 400 hours of free public skating. That season also had more than 125 Super Skate participants, 238 players across six hockey programs, and about 600 players on 76 teams in six tournaments. The Cape Courier's April 22, 2026 issue reported the same 670 ice hours and 400 open-skate hours from the Town Council report, along with 13 arena events and a rink schedule that included the Cumberland County Winter Special Olympics.
According to CCAG, more than 200 volunteers gave an estimated 10,000 hours during the 2025 to 2026 season. Under the building plan, the existing sheet stays in service while the 2028 slab and the 2029 roof go in. Season 5 runs through March 7, 2027. If Phase 1 keeps to its target, crews could begin moving the Gull Crest parking lot that same month.
At Legacy Sotheby's International Realty, we follow projects like the arena at Gull Crest because they show how Cape Elizabeth's winters are changing. If you'd like to talk about the town and how a project like this one fits into it, we're glad to have that conversation. Work With Us.
