SLC Mayor Mendenhall's Green Loop could take nearly a decade and at least a quarter-billion dollars to build

08/21/2024 07:00 AM

For the first time, Salt Lake City officials have shared how much dough will have to be dished to build a park around downtown.

How's a cool $250 million to $350 million sound?

If built, the Green Loop — a key pillar of Mayor Erin Mendenhall's 2023 reelection campaign — would encircle downtown with new greenery, flexible public spaces and multiuse paths mostly built along 500 West, 900 South and 200 East, with a northern border on either North Temple or South Temple.

Mendenhall, who has heralded the proposal as "transformational," wants construction to wrap up in 2033, just before Utah welcomes the world again for the 2034 Winter Olympics.

Details of the project's price tag and timeline came during a staff presentation to the Salt Lake City Council last week. Council members generally shared enthusiasm for the idea but questioned the loop's route, maintenance and construction phasing.

"Before I approve a lot more money to go to this, for us to put shovels in the ground and make progress, I want assurances [about maintenance]," said council Chair Victoria Petro, who represents the northern neighborhoods of the west side. "I don't want, when constituents are going, 'Why are you letting the green space you committed to me languish?' … I don't want this to become adversarial to the rest of the city."

The case for SLC's Green Loop

During the Aug. 13 presentation, Mendenhall and senior planner Nancy Monteith laid out the potential benefits of added green space downtown and updated the council on progress in the project's design.

"This will be the place you want to go after work," Mendenhall said. "It'll be the place where you can take your dog … Whether it's dogs, kids or people without either, the Green Loop is a space that will connect all of us."

Downtown residents currently suffer from higher temperatures and poorer access to green spaces than the rest of the city. The area's population, meanwhile, is growing, with 4,000 new units permitted for construction downtown since 2019.

The Green Loop wouldn't just create new spaces to hang out. It also would include multiuse paths connecting to other spokes of the city's walking and biking network, like the 9 Line and Folsom trails.

While the new high-comfort, high-safety path would be a plus for recreational bikers, Bike Utah Co-Executive Director Chris Wiltsie is most interested in how the city would redevelop blocks along the loop to create more places worth getting to on a bike.

"Infrastructure, without a doubt, increases bicycling," Wiltsie said. "If you can do that in tandem with land use that shortens the distance between origin and destination, then that's the secret sauce right there."

City officials said funding the entire project would take public and private dollars, including possible city bonds, state and federal transportation money, along with investments from developers and philanthropists.

Council members gave the proposal a warmer reception last week than they did last month, when some questioned the timing and vision of the Green Loop.

At that July 9 meeting, they weighed Mendenhall's proposal to allocate $10 million in the city's capital improvement program budget for the design and construction of an unspecified section of the loop.

The mayor has since scaled back her funding request to $3 million, and cut promises to use the money on construction. Instead, the money would be used for designing one section of the loop along 500 West from 500 South to 900 South. City officials believe they'll be able to use road reconstruction funds and money from private developers for utility upgrades to build the section once design is complete.

Council members have until Sept. 1 to decide whether they will approve the mayor's funding request.

Where could the Green Loop go?

At the Aug. 13 meeting, council members seemed eager to dig into the gritty details of the loop, asking questions about how it would impact car traffic, how the new park space would be maintained and how construction would be phased to minimize impacts to residents and businesses.

The city is almost done with a full concept design for the project's eastern boundary — 200 East from South Temple to 900 South — according to a document updating council members on the loop's progress. The Utah Department of Transportation has also won a federal grant that could pay for improvements to a small, one-block section of State Street that could be included in the loop. City and UDOT staffers are collaborating on that section.

Of note, 200 East doesn't connect to North Temple, so the loop could go left on South Temple, right on State and left on North Temple. (The grave of Latter-day Saint pioneer leader Brigham Young is located where 200 East would run if it connected to North Temple.)

The loop's exact route still needs to be worked out. City staffers and consultants are working on the northern border of the project, especially figuring out whether it should run along North Temple or South Temple, and what the northwest corner would look like.

Once the route and design are finalized, the city will be able give more specific cost estimates for the entire project.

The northern half of 200 East and the southern section of 500 West are the roadways that are most in need of reconstruction, but city officials are figuring out which portion would be first to get the Green Loop treatment.

During an upcoming set of community events on 500 West, between 700 South and 900 South, the city will construct a temporary Green Loop demonstration to show what the project could offer in the area.