FARMINGTON — South Davis County voters by a narrow margin approved an $18 million bond to fund a five-city recreation complex to be built in Bountiful.
Nearly 10,000 voters from 33 combined precincts approved the bonding 51 percent to 48 percent, a closer margin than public officials had predicted.
Sixteen of the 33 districts voted against the bond, with all four North Salt Lake precincts voting against it — 548 against, 357 in favor. West Bountiful's four voting precincts also voted against issuing bonds.
Nine of Bountiful City's 19 precincts voted against the measure. The three combined Woods Cross city districts voted in favor.
"A win is a win," said county commission chairman Dannie McConkie. "I'm pleased we had a bigger voter turnout than we had at the primary election."
County Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings said 18.7 percent of registered voters turned out Tuesday, as opposed to 17.2 percent voting in June's primary election.
Mayors and county officials watching the results at the courthouse credited the turnout to a last-minute flurry of information campaigning against the recreation project.
The Utah Taxpayers Association issued a press release Monday night stating the Davis School District had not agreed to commit money to the project.
However, Tom Hardy, Bountiful city manager, before the votes were tallied, told reporters that contrary to statements by the association, the Davis district has been involved in the project from the beginning. He pointed to five school administrators whose names were listed in the final study by a Salt Lake architectural firm.
"The question was always how to finance the three gymnasiums between Bountiful City and the school district," he said. "They gave us the agreements they made with Layton and Clearfield cities when they built gymnasiums there, and we found them acceptable. We couldn't enter into an agreement until we had an actual project."
Other cities are not participating in the gym portion of the rec center because they have their own junior and senior high schools.
"Now that the issue is decided favorably we will proceed with planning," he said. "The next step is to issue bonds and go to bid."
He expects construction to start early next spring and the project to take about 18 months to complete.
Rawlings said more than half of the 140 absentee ballots have been counted but added that he doesn't expect the remaining votes to alter the outcome of the election.
North Salt Lake Mayor Kay Briggs said even though residents there voted against the complex, "it is amazing to get almost 10,000 people out on the Aug. 3."
Bountiful Mayor Joe Johnson said he thought the election results would be tight, and that he had been worrying about it up to Tuesday.
"It's the right thing to build and I'm happy people voted for it," he said. "Now we'll move forward and discuss any problems critics might have with the project."
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