On Wednesday, Ada County broke ground on a 50 acres park at Expo Idaho located near Garden City, North of the Grandstands on the old race tracks next to the Western Idaho Fairgrounds.
The large-scale $32 million project is funded by the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan and must be completed by 2026.
“We took a number of years to get information from people of what kind of a park they wanted,” County Commissioner Tom Daley said.
The park will include natural feature trails, open spaces, a skate park, and a natural play area for children.
Daley compared the scope of the project to Central Park in New York City or the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. As urban growth continues around it, he said, the park will provide a space for the people of Ada County and the surrounding area to enjoy nature.
“Fifty years from now, we hope [the community] will view it as in the 1800s when they were creating Central Park. They had no idea that it would be 640 acres in the middle of a gigantic city.”
“Kind of like what they did when they created the Greenbelt back in the 1970s,” he added. “They had no idea that it would be the asset to the community that it has developed to be.”
Daley said the restored habitat will also serve as a natural filter for water run-offs flowing into the Boise River, and will connect to the Greenbelt.
“The ebb and flow of the tide will be accommodated, but still have places for birds, natural plants, all of that sort of thing.”
A representative for the county said the project qualified for ARPA funding because the green space will serve an under-resourced area.
The park will replace the former Les Bois racetracks and adjacent facilities. The neighboring Western Idaho Fair will not be affected and will continue to take place on the same grounds it has been operating on since 1967.