The claim

A developer was let out of building the rodeo grounds

“The developer was supposed to build the rodeo grounds out in Pole Canyon, and the city let them out of it.”

This is on the page now because the FY2026–27 budget carries $1,000,000 to relocate the rodeo grounds, which puts the question of who was supposed to build them in the first place back in front of residents. Seen: Public comment and public hearing, Eagle Mountain City Council, March 18, 2014.

Our finding Accurate, but incomplete

True as far as it goes, and it leaves out something that changes the picture.

The promise was real, it was in a signed contract, and it had a date on it: about twenty acres of public rodeo grounds, built and dedicated by June 1, 2015. The city did release it: nine weeks after residents stood at the podium and asked the council to enforce it. What the claim leaves out is that the release was a noticed agenda item carried 3–2 with two members voting no, and that the city took something in exchange each time it gave ground.

The numbers

Owed under section 8.2dedicated and built as public rodeo grounds≈20 acres

Deadlineor $250M in market value, whichever came first1 June 2015

Council vote to remove it20 May 2014; Bradley and Ireland against3–2

Paid in its placebleachers, reimbursable to the developer through impact fees$90,000

What’s true

Section 8.2 of the Pole Canyon Annexation and Master Development Agreement, dated January 19, 2010 and signed under Mayor Heather Jackson, required the Pole Canyon Investment Group to subdivide and dedicate to the city a parcel of approximately twenty acres as a public rodeo grounds, and to build it by the earlier of the date the property's aggregate market value reached $250 million or June 1, 2015. It specified the facility down to the fittings: a rodeo-equipped arena, holding pens, bleachers for 500, a warm-up pen, lighting, restrooms and concessions, capable of hosting a high school rodeo. On July 1, 2014 the city deleted that section in its entirety. The deadline has never come back.

What it leaves out

It was not done quietly, and it was not done for nothing. The council took the First Amendment up as item 16 on the noticed May 20, 2014 agenda and adopted it 3–2: Burnham, Steinkopf and Westmoreland in favor, Bradley and Ireland against. In place of the deadline the developer paid $90,000 for publicly owned bleachers and still owed at least twenty acres as a regional park, and in 2016 that was traded again for at least one hundred acres of recreational land. The framing also skips who was in the room: the president of the rodeo committee who negotiated the bleacher purchase across the dais that night was Jared Gray, later the mayor.

More detail

The rodeo Eagle Mountain has actually had since 2010 was the interim facility. Section 8.3 required the developer to provide, by May 1, 2010, a temporary arena at the existing Pony Express Park for use until the permanent Pole Canyon grounds were finished. On March 30, 2010 the council bought the arena equipment for $98,369.20 on a 4–1 vote, with DAI, the Pole Canyon developer, repaying $107,000 of it against its obligation under the agreement, and the minutes record that the equipment “could be relocated to the proposed Pole Canyon rodeo arena site when it was ready”. The First Amendment declared section 8.3 fulfilled.

The amendment the city published is not quite the amendment the council voted for. Councilmember Burnham's motion approved the First Amendment with wording added into section 8.2.2 fixing development to the date the property's market value reached $250 million, with the word “consider” struck, and subject to a rodeo grounds operation, management and lease agreement with the rodeo committee. The signed copy stamped by the City Recorder's office carries none of the three: 8.2.2 has no date and no market-value trigger, and the city still only agrees to “consider” putting the park in its impact fee plan.

By 2016 the rodeo grounds were gone from the agreement altogether. The Second Amendment, effective April 19, 2016, replaced section 8.2 again, “in lieu of any requirement relating to the dedication or construction of any public rodeo grounds”, with at least 100 acres for a Boy Scout high adventure camp, a wake park and a trail system. In July 2023 the whole 2010 agreement was novated and superseded by the Firefly Amended and Restated Master Development Agreement, which mentions rodeo grounds once, as a permitted land use.

Residents saw it coming. On March 18, 2014, two months before the vote, a White Hills resident told the council that the developer had promised rodeo grounds when Pole Canyon and White Hills were annexed and asked the elected officials to hold him to it; another said that if the city had held the developer to the agreement the rodeo would not be a problem, because a rodeo grounds was to be built as part of it; a third told the public hearing that the agreement promised a rodeo facility in Pole Canyon by 2015 and that the council had failed to require it.

Where this comes from

Every finding here is drawn from an open-meeting recording or a published document. Check it yourself.

The Pole Canyon Annexation and Master Development Agreement, January 19, 2010Section 8.2, “Rodeo Grounds”, at printed page 17: the PCIG “shall cause to be subdivided and dedicated to the City as a specialized Recreation Area … a Parcel of approximately twenty (20) acres … for the purpose of a public rodeo grounds”, developed by the earlier of a $250 million aggregate market value or June 1, 2015, “unless such deadline is extended at the request of the PCIG (at the discretion of the Council)”. Section 8.3 required an interim equestrian facility at Pony Express Park by May 1, 2010.Pole Canyon Annexation and Master Development Agreement, 19 January 2010 (archived copy)

The council, authorizing the agreement, December 16, 2009The resolution approving and authorizing execution of the Pole Canyon Master Development Agreement. The city attorney told the council the agreement “incorporates the recommendations of the Planning Commission with respect to land use, it incorporates zoning, transportation and special recreation features such as rodeo grounds all developed at the expense of the applicants.”Eagle Mountain City Council minutes, 2009 (16 December, pp. 220–222 of the PDF)

Eagle Mountain City Council, special meeting, March 30, 2010Mayor Heather Jackson opened the rodeo equipment item by noting that “the recent Pole Canyon annexation included the construction of rodeo grounds”. The minutes name DAI as the developer for the Pole Canyon annexation, repaying the city $107,000 for the equipment “to cover DAI's obligation included in their Master Development Agreement”, and record that the 2010 rodeo would be held next to Pony Express Park with the equipment relocatable “to the proposed Pole Canyon rodeo arena site when it was ready”.Eagle Mountain City Council minutes, 2010 (30 March, pp. 58–63 of the PDF)

Residents, in public comment and at the public hearing, March 18, 2014Three speakers in one evening asked the council to enforce the Pole Canyon rodeo grounds commitment. The same meeting handed the city's rodeo to a private nonprofit committee, whose president told the council that “because there are plans to build a rodeo grounds in Pole Canyon, the rodeo can be moved to that facility if desired”.Eagle Mountain City Council minutes, 2014 (18 March and 20 May, pp. 43–55 and 85–96 of the PDF)

The council, adopting the First Amendment, May 20, 2014Item 16 on the noticed agenda. The city administrator's summary: the amendment “removes a deadline by which certain property is required to be developed and dedicated to the City as public rodeo grounds”, and the Pole Canyon rodeo grounds requirement “will be changed to a regional park of equal value, to be built on a schedule determined by population growth in that area.” Adopted 3–2: Burnham, Steinkopf and Westmoreland aye; Bradley and Ireland no.Eagle Mountain City Council minutes, 2014 (18 March and 20 May, pp. 43–55 and 85–96 of the PDF)

The First Amendment, as filed with the City Recorder, July 1, 2014Section 8.2 is deleted in its entirety and replaced by “Bleachers; Regional Park Facility”: a $90,000 payment for publicly owned bleachers, reimbursable to the developer through impact fees, and a parcel of at least twenty acres as a specialized Recreation Area for public park purposes, with no date attached. Section 8.3's interim equestrian facility is declared fulfilled.First Amendment to the Pole Canyon Annexation and Master Development Agreement, 1 July 2014 (archived copy)

The Second Amendment, April 19, 2016Section 8.2 is replaced again, this time “in lieu of any requirement relating to the dedication or construction of any public rodeo grounds”, with not less than one hundred acres for a Boy Scout high adventure camp, a wake park and a public trail system. Its recitals date the First Amendment to July 1, 2014.Second Amendment to the Pole Canyon Annexation and Master Development Agreement, 19 April 2016 (archived copy)

The Firefly Amended and Restated Master Development Agreement, July 5, 2023The 2010 agreement, as amended in 2014, 2016 and 2018, is defined as the “Prior Agreement” and is “hereby novated and superseded and shall be of no effect regarding the Property.” Nothing in the replacement obliges anyone to build rodeo grounds.Firefly Amended and Restated Master Development Agreement, July 2023 (archived copy)

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Checked August 21, 2026. Nothing goes on the fact-check list unless an open-meeting recording or a published document can settle it: the rules. Spot a mistake? civicrollcall@gmail.com