Salt Lake County approves covering Equestrian Park arena

SOUTH JORDAN — Salt Lake County will begin expanding its Equestrian Park by covering one of its outdoor arenas and listing for sale 13 acres of land in the park to help pay for additional improvements that, if all approved, would total $23 million.

The Salt Lake County Equestrian Park currently has one indoor arena but has lost paying horse shows and can't competitively attract others that favor facilities with more indoor space, said Erin Litvack, the county's Community Services Department Director.

Other municipally owned arenas in Utah with two covered arena facilities are in Spanish Fork, Vernal, Weber and Davis counties and St. George, said park manager Corey Bullock.

Covering a second arena — at a cost of $900,000 — is projected to increase revenue to the park by $115,000 each year, she said. Doing the work now is based on the recent recommendation of a task force that put the project high on its list.

"We want to have it up and ready when we hit the next season, hopefully in early spring," Litvack said.

The task force report shows the county subsidizes about 60 percent of the Equestrian Park's costs.

County Councilman Jim Bradley said the county started socking away $300,000 per year to help pay for the arena improvements three years ago, expecting private funds would provide a match to the county funds. That match hasn't materialized, Bradley said, but the project remains funded even while the county has a hiring freeze in place and is in the difficult and sometimes contentious process, among county departments competing for funding, of trying to balance next year's budget.

The county expects it can raise $1.3 million to $2.5 million by selling two parcels of land inside the park, totaling 13 acres, that include older horse boarding barns that would be replaced elsewhere during a later phase of the park's expansion. Selling the land would help pay for new horse stall barns and the first phase of a riding trail.

The second phase of the project would include an additional $6.3 million event center, a $1.5 million show barn and infrastructure improvements, mostly storm drains. The third phase would include $12 million in improvements that were not detailed for the council on Tuesday. The only funding approved so far is covering the second arena.

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