Federal ARPA funds to transform Garden City horse racetrack into urban park • Idaho Capital Sun

By December, Ada County could begin converting the Les Bois horse racetrack and surrounding facilities into a multi-use park, according to a press release from Ada County. Set for completion in 2026, the park — nicknamed “The Park at Expo” by its stakeholders — will span 50 acres in Garden City along the Boise River.

The Les Bois racetrack was a commercial racetrack located on the Western Idaho Fairgrounds used for horse racing from 1970 until it closed in 2016.

In 2022, Ada County tore the racetrack down because of poor conditions.

The park will be built next to the Western Idaho Fairgrounds, keeping the fair at its current spot while adding new recreational space for the community.

The project is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, also known as ARPA. This federal initiative signed into law by President Joe Biden in March 2021 provided financial aid totaling $1.9 trillion to combat the COVID-19 pandemic’s health and economic impacts. Ada County has since received $93 million in ARPA funds, allowing development without raising local taxes. Building a community park with open space and recreational areas qualified for ARPA funds.

“The fact that the county is able to do this using ARPA funds, I think is just amazing,” Ada County spokesperson Elizabeth Duncan told the Idaho Capital Sun. “It’s such a blessing. This federal support ensures that the project will benefit the entire community without additional financial burdens on residents.”

Public feedback played an important role as Ada County determined what to do with the space.

“When we first realized we had to tear down the horse stables and track because we couldn’t use it anymore, we thought OK, we want to hear what the community thinks,” Duncan said.

The county conducted a survey to understand the public’s preference for what to do with the space. Most of the 80,000 respondents supported keeping the Western Idaho Fair at its current location.

“Eighty percent of the people said, ‘Please do not move the Western Idaho Fair,’” Duncan said. “‘It is part of our agricultural heritage. It’s part of who we are.’”

Duncan said the space will be a “once-in-a-lifetime” park with its skate features, nature areas and playgrounds.

Christopher Marcinkoski, founding partner of PORT, the landscape architecture and urban design firm leading the project, told the Sun the park will serve as an amenity to Garden City, adding to the region’s network of green spaces.

“The new park will contribute to the larger collection of public open spaces along the river adding to that legacy of the Greenbelt,” he said. “The community is a big piece, and the environmental transformation is a big piece of what we are doing. I hope the park becomes a place that the community can not imagine living without.”

Ada County Commissioner Ryan Davidson has been a key proponent of the project.

“For more than a year the public has been so enthusiastic about this once-in-a-generation park being built in an area that really needs more open spaces,” Davidson said in the press release. “Where else in the country, in any major metropolitan area do you have 50-plus acres being developed into a park, with everything from adventure playgrounds, to skateparks, open spaces, nature trails and playing fields? It’s pretty unheard of.”

Ada County Commissioner Tom Dayley, also a key proponent, said in the press release that the park is unique to the area.

“When the park is complete in 2026, we truly expect this to be a place people talk about and love for generations,” Dayley said in the release.