This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Senate has formally ended a years-long battle over whether to keep the Utah State Fairpark in Salt Lake City — and how to run it.

Senators passed a bill that will keep it in its present spot in Salt Lake City and continue to have it run by the Utah State Fairpark Corp., but give the Legislature more oversight. The bill already passed the House and it's now on its way to Gov. Gary Herbert.

Sen. Kevin Van Tassell, R-Vernal, sponsored the bill, and led a working group of legislators and others that studied for a year what to do with the fairgrounds.

He said earlier that his working group found that the community "loves the state fair, and they want it maintained there, and want to see it become even bigger than it is and add events [during the rest of the year] that will ensure a success for years to come."

He described the Fairpark as Salt Lake City's Central Park.

Some members of the Legislature had pushed to move the Fairpark, and questioned if it is run well because of annual deficits and aging buildings in need of repair.

Although the Legislature previously approved entering a 50-year contract with the Fairpark corporation to manage the fairgrounds, it was never signed amid ongoing controversy.

Last year, that ended up killing a proposal by Real Salt Lake to build a soccer stadium there for its minor-league Monarchs — a facility which could have been used for rodeo and other events. RSL said it needed a long-term contract to proceed, but bickering over the fair's future delayed that until the team decided to move on.

The bill would change who is on the Fairpark Corp.'s board to allow the Senate president, House speaker, governor, Salt Lake City and County mayors and the Days of '47 to appoint some members. Van Tassell said that helps the Legislature to have a more direct say in its operations.

He said the corporation has developed a 25-year plan on how to attract more events and revenues to reduce and eliminate deficits, and to improve maintenance of facilities.