SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City residents and business owners voiced their opinions Tuesday night regarding Smith Entertainment Group’s (SEG) proposed new downtown district.
More than a dozen people spoke in person or online during the public comment period of the Salt Lake City City Council’s formal meeting.
Several people expressed concern about how the zoning change would affect places like Abravanel Hall.
“The new signage overlays will allow advertising for NHL sponsors like Mike’s Jersey Subs and Jägermeister to appear on the sides of Abravanel Hall. How many opportunities are there for an organization to circumvent this important process?” said Mercedes Smith, principal flutist with the Utah Symphony.
Like Smith, Lori Wiecke also spoke about how the proposed sign overlay would affect Abravanel Hall.
“I ask the City Council to either exclude Abravanel Hall from the overlay or include it in the overlay but not allow advertising for events taking place elsewhere,” Wike said.
This ordinance amends the zoning district of the D4 Secondary Central Business District in order to support the creation of the Sports, Entertainment, Culture and Convention (SECC) Zone.
Proposed zoning changes include:
1. Change the maximum height allowed for design review from 125 feet to 600 feet.
2. Modify required front and corner yard setback requirements to clarify that buildings with plazas or other similar public spaces will be permitted to exceed the maximum setbacks.
3. A change to the permitted uses schedule for the D4 Zoning District would result in the following changes:
The stadium would change from a conditional use to a permitted use. The commercial parking lot would change from a conditional use to a permitted use. (The current requirement prohibiting the demolition of a building to make way for the site’s primary parking use would remain in place.)
4. Extend the existing signage overlay in place at Delta Center to the block that includes the Salt Palace, allowing for greater flexibility in signage related to entertainment venues within the overlay and allowing for signage changes through the design review process for buildings that are subject to design review.
The City Council unanimously approved a deal with Smith Entertainment Group last month that will inject about $1 billion into the proposed downtown district.
It would inject $900 million over the next 30 years into renovations around the Delta Center and the arena itself, and would increase sales taxes citywide. The City Council has until Dec. 31 to implement the 0.5% sales tax increase.
Smith Entertainment Group estimates $525 million will be spent on renovations to the Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club, while $375 million will go toward development costs for the district.
SEG also estimates it will invest at least $3 billion in the downtown area without public funds.
Some expressed concerns about zoning changes for the project, but others expressed support.
“I’m here to support the proposed zoning amendment to increase building heights. Salt Lake City’s downtown core should not have these arbitrary height restrictions,” said Salt Lake City small business owner Jeff Carlton. “Please support the increased building heights and other zoning requests that come with this.”
City Council Policy Analyst Nick Tarbet told the City Council during a work session Tuesday that the proposed zoning changes need to be adopted by Aug. 27 to meet a deadline in state law.