If approved, Basin Recreation would build two indoor recreation facilities: a 67,000 square foot center at Silver Creek and a 19,000 square foot East Canyon Community Center at Jeremy Ranch.
Basin Recreation director Robert Parrish says the plans were scaled back after residents and the County Council balked at the original $150 million price tag.
“The initial amount was based on our public input and so really that $150 million price tag came with kind of what everybody wanted and recognized that that was probably outside of the budget range of what people wanted,” Parrish said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour,” Sept. 21. “So, we were looking at what we needed, and that's kind of what the county council, what they advised us in in July to really focus on what the needs are. That’s where we came up with the $ 71 million, which really is in line with the 2024 strategic plan.”
If voters approve the bond, taxes on a $1 million primary residence would increase by about $121 a year, paid over 20 years. For second homeowners and businesses, the increase would be about $220 a year.
Parrish says the larger Silver Creek facility will focus mainly on fitness and wellness with a 14,000 square-foot cardio and weight training area and fitness studios. There would also be a smaller aquatics facility, a climbing gym and multi-purpose spaces.
“We're still planning on a climbing facility because a good chunk of our residents within the community have had an interest in some indoor climbing,” he said. “We'll also include some community and use space for our camps, potential childcare, drop-in childcare, so families can come work out, and the younger kids can have a place to go, including multi-purpose space that the community can use, whether they want to rent the space for birthday parties or community groups want to have meetings.”
The East Canyon facility would be built as part of a public private partnership on what’s known as the Cline Dahle parcel. It would be similar to the current field house with 7,000 square-feet of multi-purpose space for basketball, volleyball, and pickleball.
“That'll help us deprogram and deconflict the space we have with our current field house [at Kimball Junction]. We're also including multi-purpose space and some flex space. So, we can have senior fitness, we can have yoga, we can have aerobics, a smaller recreation area that we may be able to program for some fitness, but not as large as what we're planning at the Field House or at Silver Creek Village.”
Phase two would add outdoor amenities at the East Canyon facility.
The recreation district is currently servicing three other bonds which will be paid off by 2030 and 2034. Even if voters approve the new bond in November, Parrish says the district won’t start drawing on it until the money is needed. A year of design and permitting still needs to be done.
“It may be late 2027, early ‘28 before we even draw on this new bond, and then we'll go through that process,” he said. “So, over the next four to five years, the two existing bonds will drop off. As they drop off, residents will see their tax bill actually reduce.”
Wednesday’s public hearing will be held at the Richins Services Building at Kimball Junction. It starts at 6 p.m.
Click here to join the public hearing remotely.
