Saratoga Springs awarded grant to makeover bike park
Renderings of the Sunrise Meadows Bike Park show the addition of the bike trails, awnings, trees and landscaping.
Renderings of the Sunrise Meadows Bike Park show the addition of the bike trails, awnings, trees and landscaping.
The Sunrise Meadows Bike Park in Saratoga Springs, which opened in 2018, is set to receive a makeover thanks to funds from the city and a Utah Outdoor Recreation Grant from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
In 2018, the city council and city manager envisioned a mountain bike park in some empty space, wanting to create a location residents could utilize and recreate at.
With about $10,000 awarded from a different GOED grant and some city funding, the public works department and about 100 volunteers got to work and created a two-lane track with signage, a pavilion and some landscaping.
Rick Kennington, Saratoga Springs parks superintendent, said the park has been used by many kids to this point and it has been good to see.
Now the city is looking to make more improvements to the park.
“In this fiscal year, which was approved by the city council, another $300,000 was appropriated so that we could finish the rest of the park,” Public Works Director Jeremy Lapin said. “What was done in 2018 was only a small portion of the park.”
Knowing that it would be tough to complete the project with just the money allotted from the city council, an application was sent in for another Utah Outdoor Recreation Grant.
That led to the city being awarded another $150,000 to fully complete the bike park.
Lapin said this was the fourth or fifth project Saratoga Springs has done with the team at GOED and added that the city has delivered on all of those projects. In the process, a good reputation has been built, according to Lapin.
With the combined $450,000, Lapin said that budget will allow for a full renovation of the park that is set to include the addition of seven more bike trails including jumps, a pump track and trails for riders of various skill sets.
“I think the big difference is that it is going to enhance the aesthetics of the park,” Kennington said. “There is going to be more manicured landscape areas, trees, tables and things like that where currently you show up and you are mountain biking with one pavilion.”
Much of the native vegetation will be maintained, but Lapin spoke to the number of trees that will be added to bring more shade to the area.
Another key feature of the park will be its connection to the main walking and biking trail in Saratoga Springs. This trail will run through the center of the bike park, making it a destination along the main asphalt trail.
“The improved bike park will have increased capacity for bike riders of all abilities and bring visitors from both Saratoga Springs and surrounding communities,” Kennington said in a press release.
With the establishment of the park in 2018 and now the renovations, Lapin pointed to a survey done as a part of an update to the city’s parks, trails and open space master plan that was amended in May 2020.
The survey was meant to find out what the community wanted moving forward, and some of the most popular suggestions included a bike park, a splash pad and a swimming pool.
Lapin said that completing the bike park delivers to residents one of the things they identified as a priority with regard to recreational opportunities in the city.
As for the goal moving forward, Lapin stressed that the city wants to complete projects every year to continue hitting items that were on the list residents prioritized.
The preliminary cost estimate for the park is $350,000, with designs anticipated to be completed late this summer. Construction is currently estimated to be completed by the summer of 2022.
