Plenty of Sandy parks? One more big one?

SANDY — Many Sandy residents are holding out hope that a 107-acre park may sprout on the city's gravel pit, despite a master plan showing the city fully stocked with green space.

The Sandy City Council is considering the site at 9400 South and 1300 East for a Boyer Co. big-box development that includes a Wal-Mart and high-density residential. But residents such as Gary Forbush say city officials should buy the land and create a regional park, something Forbush said is desperately needed on Sandy's east side.

"This is the largest undeveloped location on the east bench of this valley," he said. "I don't see where we could have another site that could be a good regional park."

A new Sandy parks master plan released Wednesday, however, shows the city is meeting its goal of 6.5 acres of developed park space for every 1,000 residents. With more than 20 developed parks and a 636-acre Dimple Dell park to boot, Sandy Parks and Recreation Director Nancy Shay said the city is more than meeting demand for open space in the city.

"We feel that right now we have adequate parks and green space for the population today," she said.

But Forbush, a member of the Save Our Communities group opposed to the Boyer development, said the city's figures are unreliable because they incorporate 50 percent of schoolyards into the number of developed parks. Without those spaces, which Forbush said are mostly unusable by the public, the city only has four acres of developed park space for every 1,000 residents.

Moreover, Forbush said Dimple Dell park hardly counts as usable park acreage because it is mostly natural open space.

"That space is wilderness. It's not usable recreation space," Forbush said. "The bottom line is, they count that as a regional park and it's not. I don't see that potential at Dimple Dell."

The accessibility of Dimple Dell park was a concern for city officials, Shay said. That obstacle can be overcome, she added, by creating pockets of developed park space within Dimple Dell and by enhancing the park amenities throughout the area.

"I think it needs to be developed more. That doesn't mean all of it needs to be green," she said.

The master plan does identify a need for park space in the area of the gravel pit, but Shay said that need can be met by a 30-acre park included in the Boyer proposal. Forbush, however, is skeptical about the quality of a park linked to a Wal-Mart and Lowes.