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Resident urges council to withhold agreement and study impacts before approving proposed ice rink
Summary
A neighbor of the proposed ice rink, Alex Yang, told the council new ice rinks in Utah are typically tax-supported, cited public-safety and fiscal concerns, and asked the city to release the draft agreement (MOU) and perform independent due diligence.
A Mapleton resident raised fiscal and public-safety concerns about a proposed nearby ice rink and urged the City Council not to sign the draft agreement without independent review.
Alex Yang, who identified himself as living on Lunar Way near the proposed facility, told the council, “Do you know how many ice rinks are profitable in Utah? The answer is not a single one; they are tax-supported.” Yang urged the council to perform its own due diligence rather than relying on material provided by the rink’s proponents and asked the city to release the draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) for public review.
Yang also said neighborhood residents have voiced opposition and that he has concerns about traffic and crime impacts, asserting that new rinks in the state have been followed by higher crime rates in surrounding neighborhoods. He told the council that if the city’s objective is to generate revenue, an ice rink is unlikely to meet that goal and might instead require continued public subsidy.
Council members acknowledged the public comment; staff later noted that proposed agreements are under legal review. No formal council vote or direction to staff to sign an agreement occurred during the meeting.
(Reporter’s note: the speaker asked the council to release the draft MOU and for the city to conduct independent impact studies before proceeding.)
