The people behind the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center met with 11 groups of stakeholders this month and plan to get input from the general public before the authority’s April 25 meeting.

Board chair Chet Prior said at Friday’s EOTEC board meeting that the input from stakeholders like 4-H and the fair board has been very influential on the project’s design.

“Every time we have a meeting there are changes,” he said.

The board did have some drawings of a possible design for the center on display at the meeting, but Prior emphasized that the situation was “very fluid” and the drawings were by no means a final plan.

The drawings include a rodeo arena, event center building, outdoor amphitheater, rough stock pens, livestock barns, RV park and a variety of lawn spaces and small buildings.

Gary Winsand of Frew Development Group told the East Oregonian the plans have gone through several changes as the group gathers more input. The location of the barns, event center and entrance were all moved, for example, and an access road was eliminated.

He said the biggest change was to shrink down EOTEC’s footprint from 90 acres to about 52. The move saves money on utility infrastructure, leaves room for future expansion and makes it easier for people with mobility challenges to get from one part of the site to the other.

“The biggest thing is that it changes the ambiance,” Winsand said.

He said the plans are taking so long to put together because the EOTEC authority has to be very careful with money — it’s not like working with a county or city that can decide to shift some more money over from the general fund or their reserves if something goes over budget.

“We have x amount of dollars and that’s all we have,” he said.

As a result the authority and Frew Development Group have to create a plan they think will match the budget, then put the project out to bid, and then most likely make changes based on the bids put in by contractors. If the rodeo arena turns out to be more expensive to build than Frew Development Group predicted, for example, something else will have to be axed to come up with the extra money.

Winsand said the board is very close to setting meetings for the general public and putting a set of plans on display in local businesses, but there are a few more things to settle first.

“We have a ways to go and I don’t want to rush it and I don’t want to give false information,” he said.

Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536.

This story originally appeared in East Oregonian.