The new director of the Snyderville Basin Recreation District, Robert Parrish, tells KPCW to expect a bond on the November 2026 ballot if development moves forward on the Cline Dahle property.
Summit County owns the land next to Jeremy Ranch Elementary School and chose to work with Columbus Pacific Development on a public-private partnership last year.
Columbus Pacific’s pitch included a second Basin Rec fieldhouse.
Parrish said the recreation district doesn’t want to be caught “flat-footed” as far as financing new construction, but he didn’t say yet how large the bond would be. He emphasized the plans are contingent on the county-developer negotiations.
“We've hired a firm to begin putting together some of our bonding materials,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Jan. 19. “Once we know that this is a go, we'll start public input sessions, listening sessions, to figure out what the people want.”
When Basin Rec polled taxpayers about a bond two years ago, they were split.
The district also pursued a 15% property tax increase last year, beginning that process prior to Parrish’s hiring. The Summit County Council only allowed a 5% increase, which Councilmember Tonja Hanson still voted against.
She said at the time she was concerned about garnering support for a bond on the heels of a tax hike.
Designs for the facility aren’t final. Parrish said the bond would help pay for architects and engineers to draft those.
“You're looking at anywhere from 12 to 18 months before we actually have a final design that we can even share with the community,” he said. “We will have some concepts that we can share as part of our listening sessions leading up to the bond.”
Last year’s nonbinding letter of intent from Columbus Pacific to Basin Rec suggested that the new fieldhouse could include a pool or climbing gym and both indoor and outdoor sports and fitness facilities.
Parrish added that users of the existing fieldhouse at Kimball Junction have said they’d like more pool and indoor field space. While Columbus Pacific and the county negotiate, he said the district is in a holding pattern.
Summit County, Basin Rec and Columbus Pacific Development are financial supporters of KPCW.
