TOQUERVILLE — The Southern Utah town of Toquerville has abandoned plans to develop a major sports destination on 607 acres of adjoining public land in Washington County, putting an early end to the project before the Bureau of Land Management could commence a planned environmental review.
Also coming to light last week was the existence of a consulting contract between the project’s would-be developers and Toquerville Mayor Keen Ellsworth, who has been a vocal booster for the $65 million Toquerville Athletic Recreation Complex, or ARC.
The move, announced at a Sept. 7 City Council meeting, came a month after the town’s private development partners — American Charter Development (ACD) and Eastward Management Group — pulled out of agreements with the town to finance, build and operate the proposed complex off Interstate 15.
ARC would have been the West’s largest sports complex with an RV park, wave pool, pickleball courts, 32 ball fields, a charter school, a 150,000-square-foot recreation center, trails and enough asphalt to park 6,000 cars.
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Written by BRIAN MAFFLY, The Salt Lake Tribune.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.
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