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Show Bountiful struts stuff to gain Olympic ice skating rink bid - Mtm, ' : y'-y - i x in j i " ' J f Bv SARAH HANSEN i- Bountiful is making its qualities known in the bid for the Olympic ice skating rink. The Utah Sports Authority and members of the Olympic Committee stopped at the Bountiful Recreation Center June 28 on their all-day tour of the various spots bidding for specific Olympic events. Bouniiful's plan is to build a second se-cond ice rink directly adjacent to the existing one which would seat an Olympic-sized crowd. The total cost to construct the facility was estimated by Carpenter-Stringham Carpenter-Stringham Architects, the designers of the original rink, at $3,003,425. The figure was confirmed by Holnisien, the company which In conjunction with the State, the Utah Sports Authority will have the right to schedule up to 1,000 hours of ice time for regional, national, or international competition. In exchange for the hours, Bountiful wiU ask for $100,000. "Running an ice sheet is not a money-making proposition," said Hardy. "It will attract coaches, which will in turn attract athletes, which will in turn bring in the revenue. Our proposal is to do what you (the Utah Sports Authority) want ' "No one has said that we should walk away, that we should not subsidize sub-sidize tax dollars,' said Hardy. The other cities competing for the ice rink are Ogden, Salt Lake, and Orem. The final decision will be made July 10. to seven hours a day, six days a week on the ice. At the existing rink, they compete com-pete with the public, hockey and leam-to-skate programs. "We've stuck it out here," said Chris Sherard, Holly Cook's coach, "but it's very difficult." The first rink was built in 1974. According to Thomas Hardy, city manager, a second rink was hoped for at that time. "We're not really interested in simply building a second se-cond sheet of ice for recreational purposes," said Hardy. The plan is that its post-Olympic use would be as a training center. "For every Holly Cook, there are IS to 20 students hoping to achieve that level," said Hardy. "We've had to do a balancing act to get all the groups on." Adjacent sheets are not uncommon. un-common. 'Two major training PHOTOS BY JOHN W.CANNON i Bountiful City Manager Thomas Hardy pitches the attributes of the skating rink site to the Utah Sports Authority during their visit looking at possible Olympic sites. designed and built the cooling system, and by Beck Street Construction, Con-struction, a local contractor. The amount of $3 million is allocated to build the Olympic ice sheet. The Utah Sports Authority, however, has full responsibility and rights to direct the design and construction. con-struction. Bountiful is home to the Utah Figure Skating Club and the Salt Lake Amateur Hockey Association. It is also home to Holly Cook, who took third in the World Cup and performed for the tour group, as well as other national skaters. For the athletes, another ice rink would mean more ice time for practicing. prac-ticing. National ice skaters need six centers, Lake Arrowhead and Colorado Springs, both have adjacent adja-cent sheets," said Hardy. "It's a tremendous benefit to be able to warm up on one and perform on the other or have double the size of competition. If we're really in-trested in-trested in a training facility for winter sports, we really need to have two side by side.' The recreation center owns over 20 acres of land, and shares another 20 acres with the Davis County School District. The land is owned by the city, is properly zoned, is immediately available, and all of the off-site improvements are already installed. |