The Utah Military and Veterans Affairs Committee is opposed to using property owned by the Veterans Administration Medical Center for a speed skating oval needed to host an Olympic Winter Games.
"Locating a sports facility the size of the skating oval adjacent to a hospital would be an intolerable intrusion on the peace and quiet of any hospital be it civilian, military or veterans," said Don G. Reaveley Sr.Reavely, the chairman of the committee that lobbies on behalf of 29 military and veterans organizations, said the Utah Sports Authority is not being sensitive to the needs of patients at the veterans hospital.
He said the organization agrees with area residents and others who want the oval constructed instead on city-owned property adjacent to the Salt Lake City Parks Department offices on the west side.
Besides the Veterans Administration property, the Utah Sports Authority needs land owned by the University of Utah to build the facility, which would be used for winter sports competitions even if Utah never hosts an Olympics.
After months of discussions, the Sports Authority gave up trying to acquire another piece of property for the project, located next to the Guardsman Way site of the oval.
The Sports Authority had intended to spend $800,000 to obtain that property, which will be used by the U.S. Forest Service for a new office building, but ran into trouble trying to get title to the land.
The question of when - and maybe where - the oval will be built are being reconsidered as part of the Sports Authority's efforts to renegotiate the city's agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
That agreement details what facilities will be built in exchange for Salt Lake City being the USOC candidate for the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games. Salt Lake lost the '98 Games to Nagano, Japan.