Darcy Hanks is moving ever closer to landing a wakeboard park in Eagle Mountain.
Earlier this month, the City Council approved the Salem entrepreneur's site plan for such an attraction next to Pony Express Regional Park.
Now, Hanks and the city are hammering out details on an agreement to provide land and other assistance.
"Eagle Mountain has been helpful in trying to get it in," Hanks said of the project.
City spokeswoman Linda Peterson said no time has been set to bring an agreement to the council.
Eagle Mountain approved an earlier site plan in May, but Hanks and partner Pat Panakos, a professional wakeboarder and founder of The Wake Park Project, amended it, moving it to a new location and seeking different assistance from the city.
The prospective park operators are seeking 3 million gallons of water to fill two man-made lakes, but now are asking for $221,000 to help bring in a utility line and buy a strip of land for the project.
Ifo Pili, the city's economic-development director, said at a recent town meeting that the deal would be good for Eagle Mountain.
"Using cost-benefit analysis, we are getting a great return," Pili said.
Panakos explained in a phone interview that the park would do well, because it is close to the Salt Lake City area.
"[Utahns] are really into the outdoor lifestyle and water sports," Panakos said.
Wakeboarding is a cross between snowboarding and water skiing.
The park, expected to be one of the first of its kind in Utah, uses a cable system instead of boats to pull wakeboarders through the water. That, among other things, Panakos said, would make the park safer.
"[The wakeboard park] is a controlled environment," Panakos said at the town meeting. "We dig the lake, and there is no other traffic in the lake."
Unlike a boat that drags wakeboarders, Panakos said the cable system lifts them.
The park would have two lakes, with more than 600 feet of cable runs for wakeboarders. There also would be ramps and rails, making the lakes a sort of aquatic skateboard park.
No need for a board, Hanks said, would make the park even more popular because participants could try the sport without having to make that investment.
The park would have amenities for landlubbers as well, including a wading area and volleyball courts.
Twitter: @donaldwmeyers
