Gilbert go-kart, mini golf park plan killed

An outdoor go-kart and mini golf park won’t be coming to Gilbert after the Town Council voted unanimously to terminate the lease agreement at the request of the developers on Tuesday.

Tod Thornton, principal of SAP Holdings said in a prepared statement, “unfortunately, recent economic conditions, primarily high construction costs, have made the project unviable for the foreseeable future.”

Rocky Brown, the parks and recreation business operations manager, said it was a mutual agreement between staff and the developers to move forward with the lease termination.

The San Tan Adventure Park was going to be a 4-acre park next to the town’s larger public Crossroads Park at Warner Road and SanTan Village Parkway. In 2017 the town approved the agreement with SAP Holdings, LLC and slated to begin construction early this year.

While canceling the lease agreement doesn’t have an immediate financial impact for Gilbert, the project would have created around $92,000 in annual revenue for the town, Brown said.

Councilmember Chuck Bongiovanni said at Tuesday’s council meeting that he’d like to see a monetary penalty built into future agreements for non-performance by developers. “We spent five years of staff time” and “suffered some community relationship damage,” he said, referring to the backlash from residents over the park.

The 4 acres will return to Gilbert for future park uses. Brown said there aren’t immediate plans for the site but rather city officials will gather community input for new potential uses as they revamp the town’s parks and recreation master plan over the year.

What was planned

The park was set to feature a 21-kart go-kart racetrack, an 18-hole miniature golf course, a splash pad and concessions for the first phase of the park on the 2.4 acres.

The lease was approved in 2017 but the project was stalled in 2020 due to funding.

After approval of the designs by the planning commission, the project received pushback from nearby residents about the potential increase in noise levels from the go-karts.

Residents appealed the project in 2021 to the Town Council with hopes the council would reverse the planning commission’s decision. However, the council upheld the commission’s decision after adding stipulations to address residents’ noise concerns.