The Ogden City Council, acting as the Municipal Building Authority, gave its first OK to the sale of up to $19.5 million in bonds to finance the project on the former site of the Ogden City Mall.

The vote, though, was 4-3, and some council members said they need to know much more about the economics of the recreation center, which is expected to cost nearly $25 million to be shared by the city and a partnership of Fat Cats bowling and Gold's Gym. A gym and bowling alley are part of the proposed center.

A final decision is not expected until mid-May.

A parade of residents urged the council to delay until it knows more about the proposal. Owners of other bowling alleys complained that the city will be helping put them out of business.

But Mayor Matthew Godfrey pitched it as the best hope for developing the 22-acre parcel of dirt that used to be the Ogden City Mall in the heart of downtown. The city bought the failed mall in 2001, and demolished it the next year. After public meetings, the city came up with a plan for a retail-housing-office-entertainment complex.

But its master developer backed out, and the city hasn't been able to attract businesses willing to invest without a key attraction, Godfrey said.

"In absence of this, we have nothing for our mall," Godfrey told the council.

The Treehouse Children's Museum is to build a new facility in the mall, but that has apparently not been enough to entice investment.

"There is a cost of inaction in this city," Godfrey said. "We've seen the result of that in the last 20 years."

But resident Wayne April urged the council to not let the mayor ramrod the project.

"The only people getting a high adventure out of the deal will be the taxpayers of Ogden," he said.

Owners of Fat Cats and Gold's say they will invest about $9 million. The mayor wants to sell $16.5 million in bonds, which would be repaid in part by tax increment revenue from old projects. The remainder, $9.4 million, would be paid with lease revenue by the Fat Cats-Gold's partnership.