Davis County to help build arts center

FARMINGTON — Davis County commissioners agreed Tuesday to donate $2 million toward the construction of the Davis Cultural Arts Center.

The contribution, expected to make up just over 14 percent of the center's total cost, comes from the county's tourism fund, with revenues generated from taxes on restaurants, hotel rooms and car rentals in Davis County.

Centerville and Bountiful will foot the bulk of the roughly $12 million construction bill. The two cities are dedicating about 90 percent of revenue from a recreation, arts and parks tax to the project.

Davis County's donation — $800,000 upfront and $171,428 a year for seven years — gives the Centerville Redevelopment Agency the ability to bond for a $14 million project, which is expected to include a 500-seat, main-stage theater and a black-box component, which is a smaller, more flexible theater space for more intimate performances.

Officials learned in February that the center could include the black-box theater, which the Davis County Tourism Tax Advisory board made a strong push for when it recommended a $2 million donation from the county's tourism fund.

"We won't get all the bells and whistles," said Centerville finance director Blaine Lutz in February. "We might get a bell and a whistle."

The center could be built to allow for expanded amenities when more funding is available.

But Centerville Mayor Ron Russell said the center would likely cost more — and could have been impossible to build — if the economy weren't in its present state.

Another request from the board was for Centerville and Bountiful officials to call the theater the Davis Cultural Arts Center instead of South Davis Cultural Arts Center.

Russell said that was an appropriate request, because he wants the whole county to reap the benefits of the arts. But, he said, the center's administrative board is still seeking sponsorships from private foundations, something that could cause a name change.

Rodgers Memorial Theatre, which currently occupies a small theater space in Centerville, will probably produce most of the performances at the new center.

Russell said he hopes to break ground in April or May, with a 16- to 18-month construction schedule.

E-MAIL: jdougherty@desnews.com