Senate considers feasibility studies for projects

Neighborhood parks, community swimming pools and public recreation centers could all face additional scrutiny before construction, according to a new legislative bill.

The new requirements would require cities to conduct a feasibility study for any "non-essential" project within 15 miles of a similar, privately owned business. The sponsor of SB222, Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, said that "there is a sense of reality" with any study, and would ideally bring to light any ongoing costs or lost revenues that the city or county could face.

The bill is currently before the Senate.

"This would bring to the front this information so the decisions can be made in the public eye," Jenkins said.

It would also protect private businesses, especially private gyms, which often face uneven competitive levels when near a tax-exempt, publicly funded recreation center. Gary Nielsen, who owns four Gold's Gyms in the Ogden area, said that government's opening a recreation center is akin to them entering into any other private business and claiming that it is a needed service for their residents.

"It's very, very unfair to us," Nielsen said. "If government really wants to do a business, why don't they open a convenience store? Everybody uses gas. But they would never consider that."

While the major recreation centers may cost millions of dollars and could easily absorb a consultant study, the bill also requires studies for other things, such as athletic fields or swimming pools. Davis County Commissioner Dan McConkie said that requiring the studies for small projects could become so burdensome that the projects may not be done.

"Feasibility studies are not cheap, and if you have to have one you can hang your hat on, instead of something done internally, the costs could be 20 percent of the project," he said.

Instead, McConkie said the bill should be narrowed so that it only deals with large projects along the Wasatch Front, where most of the private gyms are operated.

"We don't believe this is a problem across the state," he said. "But if this bill is passed, it will become a problem for the entire state."

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