The Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District cut its proposed bond amount in half after residents bemoaned the district’s growing price tag, and Executive Director Robert Parrish said the reduction means future facilities will also need to downsize.
Basin Recreation last month unveiled plans for a $150 million general obligation bond to build a climbing facility in Jeremy Ranch and an aquatic center in Silver Creek, but community members and the Summit County Council questioned the project’s cost and need. Residents noted they are already paying for two Basin Recreation bonds in addition to the district’s base tax rate.
Parrish said he took the County Council and community feedback to heart, and the district plans to propose a reduced $71 million general obligation bond on Wednesday. Voters will have a chance to decide the bond’s future if the County Council authorizes placing it on the Election Day ballot.
Approximately $60 million would go toward constructing the buildings, while another $11 million would be set aside for unexpected and “soft” costs, including the design process and required permits.
Parrish said the district will likely build a “major” facility on one site and a smaller community center or outdoor recreation field on the other. However, Basin Recreation leadership is still determining whether to prioritize the Cline Dahle parcel in Jeremy Ranch or the district-owned parcel in Silver Creek.
“When I say ‘major,’ it will probably be the same size or maybe a little smaller than the current Fieldhouse,” Parrish said. “We’re going to do a cost analysis for site development on both properties. If one would cost more to put in utilities, that might lead us one way or the other. We’ll also do some geotech surveys on the sites to see which site is going to be easiest to build on, which one has the space for us to do programming, and then we’ll go from there.”
The buildings haven’t been designed, but district officials are formulating possible programming options over the next few weeks to determine what needs to be included in each facility while remaining under budget. The results of those conversations will be published in October, which is when the district plans to hold another public hearing ahead of Election Day.
“We’ll have to reconfigure the building design to allow for some modularity … so that the buildings can easily be added onto without the significant expense of having to shut down the building and open up the whole entire wall,” Parrish said.
It’s uncertain whether aquatic or climbing equipment will be included at this point because the district needs to evaluate the costs of running different types of facilities, Parrish said.
“We’ll go through some exercises analyzing what can be done within the budget and program it from there,” he added. “Once we have the program and the building planned, we’ll also work on how we can phase in amenities or what we can do later on.”
Parrish said district leadership arrived at the $71 million figure for a variety of reasons, including findings in a 2024 strategic plan that indicated residents would support a $70 million bond to build a facility in Silver Creek. He also noted the current Fieldhouse would cost $45 million to renovate if it were damaged in a fire, based on a recent facilities assessment.
“Replacing the building is cheaper, so to build a new building of a similar size, it would probably be closer to $50 million or $55 million,” Parrish said. “We don’t own (the Fieldhouse property). There are other things that we inherited that make the cost of that facility less, whereas if we were to build a facility from scratch, there’s a lot more that would go into it for us.”
If Basin Recreation can’t afford two facilities, it’s possible one property could be converted into a park or outdoor recreation space. Parrish said he’s received some requests to leave the Silver Creek parcel as open space, but the development agreement for the land requires the construction of a recreation area.
“The developer basically donated and gave us the land with the intent for us to create parklands and develop it and provide at least some amenities,” Parrish said. “There are legal constraints for the things that we must do on these properties.”
Parrish also pointed out that Basin Recreation’s two current bonds expire in 2028 and 2030. He said the district wouldn’t draw on the new bond’s funding until it’s time to start construction, which would likely be in mid-2028, so residents would only be paying all three bonds for one to two years.
As more developments are built, like Altus Park City, the price for residents will decrease because more people are paying property taxes, Parrish added.
“The hope is that we’ll get something that everybody can use, that everybody needs, but it may not be what everybody wants,” Parrish said. “But we can work on those wants and build those out in future years as the population grows and we start paying off this other debt.”
Parrish and the Basin Recreation executive board will present the lower $71 million bond to the County Council on Wednesday. The county will hold a public hearing on the proposal the same night, and councilors are scheduled for a final vote on whether to authorize the special election.