SALT LAKE CITY — As Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay Rays appear headed for a messy divorce, another major sports city appears to be closing in on building a Major League Baseball stadium.
A team will be all that's needed to play in the new stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The public weighed in Tuesday on a proposal to rezone about 93 acres in Salt Lake City for a new development by the Larry H Miller group, which would include a proposed Major League Baseball stadium.
"I have been waiting for dynamic businesses to move into my neighborhood," said Lucy Cardenas, who owns Red Iguana restaurants.
Salt Lake City council is looking at creating the Jordan River Fairpark district -- about 93 acres between I-80 and North Temple on Redwood Road, and along the Jordan River, for development by the Larry H Miller group.
"LHM, they care about Utah, they are from Utah, Larry was from the west side," said Victoria Petro, Salt Lake City Council chair, during their work session Tuesday afternoon. "They want to do right, so for me, giving them some options that say this conforms to the city's goals and aspirations, and you, using your best judgement."
At Tuesday night's city council public comment, most people spoke in favor of rezoning the area.
"This is going to create work for alot our members and a lot of the people in this community," said a representative from the carpenters' union.
Business chambers also agreed with the rezoning. The Westside coalition supported the new 'Power District' as well. "We are hopeful that this is going to provide an anchor point in which we can have more families move in, live, work and play on the west side."
Some neighbors are against it. "We've already seen a lot of displacement along the north temple boulevard, which zoning as we can see has caused a lot of that and I feel like upscaling that to rezone to have 400 tall buildings, right in the neighborhood, its really harmful," said a commenter.
Council wants this project to include high density, affordable homes to help address the housing crisis. "We want this district to reflect the community," said Alejandro Puy, Salt Lake City council member representing district 2.
Under new state legislation, the city and the Larry H Miller company have to reach an agreement by the end of this year: a time frame that Petro said has rushed their process. "This is why I don't love state imposed deadlines that don't give us time to ask deliberate questions and see real things."
Salt Lake City council is continuing the public hearing period, so there will be more opportunities to vote before the council makes a decision.
