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West Valley City • Residents of the expanding neighborhoods around Lodestone Regional Park won't have to bide their time any longer to climb inside its giant tire or play on its monkey bars.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday formally opened the park at 6252 W. 6200 South along the border of West Valley City and Kearns.

Many of its playground features — including a 12-foot-tall tire from Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Mine — could have been ready for use months ago, said Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation Director Martin Jensen.

But it took awhile longer for the grass to take hold on the hardscrabble countryside that climbs up toward the Oquirrh Mountains — especially after over-eager visitors trampled seedlings in a desire to climb, slide, swing and bounce in this second phase of what will be a 62-acre regional park.

Its construction came about as part of a 2012 bond, solidly approved by county voters, that provided $47 million for three regional parks and other, smaller recreation projects.

County Mayor Ben McAdams praised county voters Tuesday for having approved the bond, building a future in which "our kids and kids' kids will have safe places to play in a growing urban area."

Phase one opened in 2011. Phase three will be done when more funding is available.

The large section opened Tuesday includes a multi-purpose athletic field, a picnic pavilion, tennis and pickleball courts, restrooms and a perimeter path that extends into the to-be-developed hilly landscape to the west.

Kearns resident Jessica Stewart, 33, was delighted to bring her 18-month-old daughter Jaimie to the new park, an eight-minute drive from her home.

With a hand on her back, Stewart protected Jaimie as she crawled up the four steps of a slide as a half dozen older Kearns Recreation Center preschoolers rushed past to reach older kids' slides.

"She can grow up here," Stewart said of her daughter, attired in a white shirt commanding 'Call Me Queen Bee.' "What I like is that this park has stuff for all of the stages of growth, from 18 months to 20 years old. And it has space for moms to stroll, lots of walking space. It's beautiful."

That was the goal, Jensen said, expressing satisfaction at watching swarms of blue-shirted kids from the rec center "exploring the different obstacles in the park and crawling all over them."

For older kids, part of the park's appeal will be an outdoor basketball court with six hoops from Larry H. Miller Charities and the Utah Jazz.

Former NBA player Andrae Patterson, now personnel programs coordinator for the Jazz, rebounded for locals visiting the park's courts, the 14th that the NBA franchise has built in Utah over the past 15 years.

"We're happy to make this community a little better place than it was yesterday," said Larry H. Miller Charities President Jay Francis, noting that employees of the various Miller companies provided half of the court funding. Gail Miller supplied the rest.

All in all, said West Valley City Mayor Ron Bigelow, the park adds a dimension to this corner of his city that was lacking before.

"It changes a place to live into a fun place to live, a meaningful place," he said. "Green spaces change your view of life."

mikeg@sltrib.com