Horse racing is out. So what’s next for the hundreds of acres Expo Idaho sits on?
Change is coming for the 240 acres Expo Idaho sits on, although it’s not yet clear what it would look like.
Those acres are familiar to many around the Treasure Valley — they house not only the fairgrounds, where the Western Idaho Fair is held, but also Les Bois Park (the former home of Idaho’s largest horse racing venue), Memorial Stadium (where the Boise Hawks play) and space along the Greenbelt.
The area is due for revitalization and perhaps some new development, Ada County commissioners say. They voted unanimously on Tuesday to create a committee to advise on what the county should do with the land.
That committee would be made up of about 15 to 18 people, Commissioner Kendra Kenyon said in a phone interview Wednesday. Participants would include homeowners as well as experts in multiple areas, including law, engineering and the environment. It would also include representatives from the six cities of Ada County.
“What we’re really looking for is key stakeholders that would represent the public in their area or domain,” Kenyon said. “We want a lot of community involvement.”
The county will hire a local professional facilitator to make sure the group stays on track, Kenyon said.
Horse racing in Boise
Horse racing is over at Les Bois, Kenyon said.
In 2018, Idaho voters rejected an initiative to allow “historical horse racing,” machines that allow people to gamble on recordings of horse races. The racing industry sought that revenue to support live horse racing.
“We know horse racing is no longer viable,” she said. “That won’t be happening.”
So the county will tear down the horse stalls and clean up the blighted area, Kenyon said. It also will make “incremental improvements,” including repaving the parts of the land adjacent to the Greenbelt so people can better use it.
“It’s a gathering place for our community,” Kenyon said. “It make sense to enhance it.”
Potential land development
The group will consider whether to relocate the fair and develop the site, as Garden City leaders have long favored.
Changes could mean more open space for the public to enjoy or “something to incentivize” the Boise Hawks staying at Memorial Stadium after all, she said. The Hawks owners want a better stadium and have been working to build one on Boise’s West End, though their plans have gone nowhere so far.
That could also mean development on at least part of the land. Situated along Chinden Boulevard and Glenwood Street, and bordering the Boise River, the land could be valuable for developers.
Members of the committee would serve for a year, according to the resolution that formed the committee, but Kenyon said she was hoping to have suggestions in as soon as six months. County officials hope the committee will begin meeting as soon as a few weeks from now.
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