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Whatever
Happened...
Question: What happened to the proposed Ellison Onizuka Archery Training Center in Salt Lake? Costs shot down
Salt Lake archery
training centerAnswer: The archery range never came to life, despite efforts by archers groups to raise the money and build the center themselves, with city approval.
According to Brian Yamasaki of the city Parks Department, the archers tried to follow government requirements, but realized they would not be able to meet the obligations and costs to develop the center on city property.
The center was proposed for an open field next to a residential area and the Salt Lake Elementary School. It was to have included restrooms, a parking lot, a sheltered clubhouse and shooting targets on about six acres.
The center was to have been named after Hawaii-born astronaut Ellison Onizuka, who was killed in the explosion of the Challenger shuttle in 1986 and was an archer himself.
Larry Paglinawan, president of an archers group and a retired police officer, said the archers tried for several years to get the center built.
But, Paglinawan said, city officials kept changing their minds about what had to be done, and even changed the location of the center after the archers had already cleared the rough terrain.
What finally made the group give up was the city's requirement that the group erect a permanent restroom at a cost of $100,000, which would not even include the water and sewage lines.
He said there are 3,000 archers in the state who don't have anywhere to shoot except the five targets at Kapiolani Park and 24 targets at Kapolei, which are open to the public only on weekends.
For more information about joining an archery group, call The Island Archer at 833-8731.
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