From Deseret News archives:

Lawmaker's plan could quash soccer stadium

Published: Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 9:36 a.m. MST

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Plans to use redevelopment agency dollars to secure a site for a Major League Soccer stadium are in serious jeopardy as a state lawmaker looks to rein in city redevelopment agencies across Utah.

And without the RDA dollars needed to make proposals from Salt Lake City and Murray work, soccer stadium plans may need serious revisions.

Salt Lake City RDA executive director Dave Oka said a restriction on using RDA funds to secure a site for a soccer stadium near downtown would make the project "extremely difficult."

Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, plans to introduce a bill that would significantly limit city RDAs by prohibiting their use for retail development. Bramble said his measure will likely end up in a compromise between city groups that favor RDAs and other groups, like public education, that don't favor diverting property tax dollars for redevelopment.

But one item Bramble says he won't compromise on is a provision that disallows RDA funds from being used for recreational facilities — including soccer stadiums.

With both Murray and Salt Lake actively recruiting the soccer stadium with RDA money, Bramble's bill would all but kill the stadium proposals in their current forms.

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Murray's proposed soccer stadium site is in a yet-to-be created RDA district near 4500 South and State while Salt Lake City's site, Block 22 near Main and 700 South, is in the West Temple Gateway project area. Salt Lake is now considering other sites instead of Block 22 because the cost to purchase the block has skyrocketed to nearly $20 million.

SportsWest vice president Dean Howes maintains RDAs were made for projects such as the new soccer stadium, which he argues will infuse jobs and economic development to areas surrounding the stadium.

SportsWest wants Salt Lake County to put a $30 million stadium bond on the ballot so voters could approve some public funds for the $60 million stadium. Until a soccer-specific stadium is built, Real Salt Lake will play at the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium.