W. Jordan approves $1M for arts center

West Jordan (Salt Lake Tribune) » After seven years of dreaming up funding recipes, the sugar factory arts campus finally has more than just crumbs in its cookie jar.

On Wednesday, the West Jordan City Council agreed in a 4-2 vote to chip in up to $1 million of parks impact fees if the nonprofit can raise a larger, matching amount by the end of 2012. It's the first major funding commitment received for the $14.3 million project, which would transform a 93-year-old defunct sugar factory west of City Hall into a regional arts center.

"We're going to do our best to move this project forward and make it something that's viable and valuable," said Mayor David Newton, who proposed the funding mechanism, "something that when people on TRAX ride by they'll say, 'Hey, lets see what's going on there.' "

Construction of the Mid-Jordan rail line, which is expected to cart riders past the sugar factory starting in late 2011, was part of the impetus for finally pushing the renovation ahead. Newton, who leaves office in January, also hopes that the city's "seed money" gives the arts center an edge when Salt Lake County begins using its new cultural master plan to determine which facilities get county cash.

But some west-side West Jordan residents were unhappy with the city's use of parks impact fees, which they say accumulated from west-side growth and should be spent on west-side parks.

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