A rec center in Stansbury Park may be two steps closer to reality thanks to a land donation from the developer of Stansbury Park and a rezoning recommendation by the Tooele County Planning Commission.

The rezone, which is for property located north of Porter Way in Stansbury Park, changes the allowed use from 10,000-square-foot minimum residential lots to 7,000-square-foot minimum multiple residential lots. The property is owned by Stansbury Park developer Leucadia.

In exchange for the additional 150 units allowed as part of the rezone, Leucadia plants to donate 5 acres of land for a rec center.

Planning commissioners approved recommending the rezone to the Tooele County Commission with the stipulation that the development agreement require the 5 acres Leucadia deeds be restricted to a community recreational center. In the event no entity builds such a recreation facility, the 5 acres will revert to a public entity best suited to developing a rec center.

“The idea of the rezone is that the planning commission made a recommendation that the county commission rezone that property in exchange for the 5 acres to be deed-restricted for a recreation center,” said Kent Page, Tooele County senior planner. “That might occur through this group that’s proposing a rec center.”

He added, “They [Leucadia] want to exchange value for value. They figure the value of 5 acres of commercial property is roughly equivalent to the value of an additional 150 dwellings.”

Lewis Loften, founder and president of Layton-based Utah Sports Academy, which is proposing to develop the rec center, said the project is still moving forward, despite some delays.

Loften added hopefully by next spring they’ll be ready to get started. The facility will have 10 courts, an Olympic-size swimming pool and many other amenities.

Loften believes the project has broad community support.

“I’m trying to create jobs in that area and it will support itself,” he said. “I really believe that in a couple years it’ll be a main attraction because there’ll be a lot of events we’ll be bringing in and it’ll be good for the community out that way, especially for youth sports.”

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com