Fate of Kearns fitness center bond uncertain

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Kearns » The Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center isn't ready to take no for an answer -- not when a yes could mean a multimillion-dollar makeover to a recreation complex that has become increasingly cramped.

The weight room has a waiting list. Aerobics classes have outgrown their digs. The outdoor Olympic-size swimming pool can't be used in the winter.

The trouble is, voters within the Oquirrh Recreation and Parks District aren't ready to pay the $12 million that it will take to expand the fitness center, according to the June election. Fifty-five percent of voters said no.

But did taxpayers really mean no? Or was the defeat caused by something else, such as a higher turnout of traditionally tax-wary Republicans who, unlike Democrats, had a primary election to decide?

Those questions are haunting fitness center officials as they contemplate what to do next.

Do they put the bond on the ballot again in November, hoping that more supporters will come out in a general election?

Do they wait a year, giving themselves time to repackage their proposal and better sell it to voters?

Or do they bid farewell to a $12 million deal and try for something smaller and, perhaps, more politically palatable?

The Oquirrh Recreation and Parks District board of trustees remains divided on how to handle the bond's defeat -- so divided that officials will convene a special meeting Monday to make up their minds.

"This November, we are most likely to have the best turnout we have ever had," said trustee Laurie Stringham. "I want to know the real will of the people. We won't get it next November. We will get it this November."

Countered trustee Jeff Monson: "I don't think we could do it [put a second bond proposal before voters] by the time frame we need to. Repackaging it will take some time. ... If we rush through this and put out a poor plan, then we are going to be setting ourselves up for the very same result."

Chairman Alan Anderson hesitated during the debate at a meeting last week. "I'm truly in the middle tonight."

So the fate of the Oquirrh Park Fitness Center bond remains undecided, at least for a few more days. Officials have until Aug. 19 to get the bond on the fall ballot.

The proposed bond would have allowed the fitness center to double the size of its workout room, cover its Olympic-size swimming pool, construct an indoor walking track and perhaps add a few amenities such as a lazy river and water slide to its outdoor water park.

But those improvements would have come at a cost.

Taxpayers within the Oquirrh district -- which includes portions of Kearns Township, Taylorsville, West Valley City and West Jordan -- now pay about $24 annually on a $175,000 home.

Under the now-defeated bond proposal, officials would have renewed that tax when it expires in 2011 and boosted it to $39 annually to expand the west-side venue.

What makes the bond's downfall so mysterious to fitness center officials is that people seemed to support it just months before the election. A March survey of 300 households within the district found that 82 percent of respondents favored keeping the fitness center tax at existing levels. Of those people, 79 percent said they would be willing to pay more. But those results didn't translate into an electoral win.

Paula Larsen, chairwoman of the Kearns Community Council, urged the fitness center not to give up.

"I hope you try again," she told the board. "This is a world-class facility you have up here. If we want this, we have to go after it."