Will an SLC anti-gentrification policy help shape the potential MLB stadium neighborhood?

Cars move through the intersection of North Temple and 1000 West in the Fairpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Since she was 15 years old, Paramjit Kaur has worked at the Star of India, her family’s restaurant. As she grew, she climbed up that internal ladder from server to manager. In those years, the spot became a staple for Indian food in Salt Lake City. It survived the 2020 pandemic and a couple of involuntary moves, escaping a fire that maimed the building and a change of neighborhood dynamics. 

When Kaur’s family thought of moving the restaurant to a space inside North Temple’s Ramada Inn, surrounded by small businesses and manufacturing facilities, they didn’t guess they would find themselves on the edge of what could become a district powered by a Major League Baseball stadium.

She learned about that possible fate at the same time as everybody else, she said, when the Larry H. Miller Company and a coalition of different people and institutions announced their intentions to redevelop the area to host professional baseball. Since then, she has been in constant contact with Salt Lake City Council members and representatives from the developer.

“Right now they’re giving me a lease on a month-to-month basis,” she said. “So when I find a spot I’m out of here and then they’ll definitely demolish this building.”

Not having to leave the building immediately is helpful, she said. And, she believes the loss of that spot would at least mean a gain for the community.

“Change is good when it brings good for everybody, not for one person,” Kaur said. “That’s all I care (about). I hope it comes to us in a good way.” 

Paramjit Kaur, owner and manager of Star of India restaurant in the Fairpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City, poses for a photo on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

The location has been ideal for the past eight years, she said. Many of the restaurant patrons come from a nearby truck stop or Salt Lake City International Airport. It has ample parking and the neighbors already know where to find them.

“I don’t have a complaint. I love this neighborhood. I want to be around this neighborhood,” Kaur said about her likely exit. She already has her eye on a nearby mixed-use building. “We’ll see, crossing my fingers.”

Though Kaur has been met with flexibility in her move, not all relocations in Salt Lake City are as cordial. 

Community benefit 

Past displacement led Salt Lake City to enact a policy born out of its anti-gentrification plan to implement “Community Benefit and Tenant Displacement Amendments,” an ordinance that requires property owners to identify a benefit to the community while seeking a plan amendment or a zoning change. That benefit could include affordable housing offers, integration of natural lands, water preservation, and transportation or historic preservation plans. 

The area that’s set to become the Power District is zoned for manufacturing purposes, so it has to go through a rezone to accommodate a potential stadium, restaurants and housing to accomplish the over $3.5 billion vision the Larry H. Miller Company has for the site. 

Because of that rezone, there could be municipal control of the housing and business mix in the area that could undergo dramatic change if a Major League Baseball stadium is built. But, with a new governing authority, the city’s capacity to control the community benefit is still uncertain.

“There are land use preemptions in the bill,” Salt Lake City Council member Victoria Petro said. “So we’ll be hopeful that we get to preserve them, but I know we’re still parsing out exactly what it means.” 

Rocky Mountain Power’s Gadsby Plant backdrops signage promoting the coming redevelopment of parcels around the plant in the Fairpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

HB562, which draws the path to fund $900 million to pay for part of a Major League Baseball stadium in the Fairpark neighborhood, establishes the Fairpark District, governed by a board mostly appointed by the governor and the Legislature. That district “may exercise all powers relating to the regulation of land uses on state-owned land” as well as privately-owned land within the district boundary, according to the bill. 

“I will stay at a table with anyone who will listen to me about these things, making sure that we’re keeping it front and center,” Petro said, “so even if we don’t have the hard power there, we will intend to find as much soft power as we can to influence things.”

However, privately-owned land could be subject to the city’s land use authority if the owner reaches a development agreement before the end of the year. So those discussions should be happening soon, said Nick Norris, director of the city’s planning division.

Ultimately, the City Council would determine whether the community benefit is proportionate to the proposals, Norris said. If someone is displaced by the development plans, the ordinance dictates developers should assist in the relocation and replacement of that housing.

There’s not a formula to define the kinds of accommodations developers should make. All instances will be considered case by case.

There have been things already shown in the Power District’s renderings, such as Jordan River improvements, Norris said. However, there may be space for others.

“Whether there’s housing development, and they’re interested in providing affordable housing or family-size housing. If there’s space for small business,” Norris said, “(or) any sort of environmental remediation that may have been created over the years because of the nature of the power generation facility that’s there.”

One big goal, Norris said, is to have the stadium and the district accessible and to function as a community asset for west-side neighborhoods, so their access to daily needs and services are improved, including providing housing, improved public safety, spots for small businesses and access to the Jordan River. 

The area that may become the Capital City Revitalization Zone, potentially the future home of the Utah Jazz and a possible National Hockey League franchise, is already zoned for downtown business activity, so Norris doesn’t expect many changes in code, he said. There may be minor things, such as height increases in some areas. But, the City Council has the choice of how to use the revenue from a potential sales tax increase.

The development agreements for the downtown project should be done by September. 

For that area, which is already an urban environment, Norris would like to see a mix of uses, providing places for people to live and improvement plans for issues related to homelessness and public safety.

The Fairpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

City uncertainties

When lawmakers announced the plans for the Fairpark District, it raised eyebrows in the city.

“The creation of an authority in the city or in any city in the state is complicated at best and brings details that are incredibly important to municipal function,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said when the legislation was approved. “And we are thrilled to have this area develop in such a visionary, positive way, but it will also require municipal services and strong cooperation between the entity and the city. And it’s some of those details that we are still working on.”

Councilmember Petro is also nervous about the creation of a new authority, mostly an aftershock of a Utah Inland Port Authority that didn’t grant much power to west-siders. 

“When we get preempted it makes me nervous because it takes the decision-making mechanism from the closest level of government to the people further away,” she said. “And in a community like mine, that risk is pretty great.”

But, still, the project represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grow and destigmatize the area.

“If we do it right, we literally get textbooks written about us about how we did it,” Petro said. “If we do it wrong, we perpetuate a really tragic story that’s being retold over here, generation after generation.”

Concern vs. benefit

The project has divided neighbors; some worry about gentrification while others believe it could transform the city’s west side in a positive way. Lloyd Solovi, who has lived in the Fairpark area for most of his life, is one of the latter.

Solovi frequently volunteers in different west-side communities. He helps out with a little league team and promotes activities with Pacific Islanders. It’s a passion rooted from watching his family and following their steps.

“I do understand some of the hesitation, maybe the cynicism that surrounds (the stadium) mostly from outsiders,” Solovi said. “I feel like we have a lot of outside influence, but they don’t really get the voice of the west side.”

Lloyd Solovi poses for a photograph at his home in the Fairpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

He acknowledged, though, there should be a plan to ease gentrification. Looking across the North Temple corridor, where many people experiencing homelessness go for refuge, is a clear example of those challenges, he said.

But, on the west side, he said, “we haven’t had a lot of investment and we don’t get a lot of attention, or we haven’t until recently, and so I think some change is a good thing,” especially, he added, when it feels like change is inevitable.

He currently mostly avoids the area that would encompass the development, he said. But, he sees the potential to turn it into a gathering place with services west-siders have asked for for years, such as grocery stores with healthier food options and gyms. 

He also believes the development could attract money for infrastructure and, overall, good morale, he said. 

“There’s a few things in humanity that have the ability to unite people and sports are one of them,” he said.

But, to achieve that, he said, there should be voices from the neighborhood at the table to help mitigate the systemic impact of past actions that have blocked the west side from thriving.

What’s lacking?

Others are more concerned, though. Gina Salazar, who has been a fierce advocate for those living along North Temple, has seen many of her peers uprooted from the city because of escalating housing prices.

“It’s become very gentrified, and (though) it’s always been like home, it doesn’t feel much like that anymore,” she said.

Many consider North Temple “a huge eyesore,” she said, but there are not enough services or housing available for people experiencing homelessness or victims of sex trafficking. 

“Either they’ll probably go to State Street,” Salazar said about the potential cleanup of the area, “or they’ll continue to try to be out there and get arrest after arrest, after arrest.”

North Temple in the Fairpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

But, on her wish list for the area, she would like to see fewer predatory businesses such as title loans companies, and more affordable apartments.

Petro, from the City Council, is also worried about the lack of affordable housing in all Salt Lake City. She believes any growth has to be well-rounded and meet the needs of constituents.

Land remediation also needs to happen, as the site hosted a power plant for over a century. Cleaning up the river is also a priority.

“It’s too early to tell. I think we have to kind of create almost a master plan for how they’re going to do things,” she said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if in two, three years we start seeing significant rezoning coming online.”

However, she already has an ideal vision for the area that includes mixed-revenue business models; from a taco cart that most could afford, to fine dining. Also, she hopes this could turn into an area that highly utilizes transit.

“On the west side because of the redlining because of our history, we are the flowers that grow in between the cracks in the pavement. We are not supposed to be thriving the way we are, based on historic policies and other issues,” Petro said. “So when you come over and you redevelop, if you do that whole scale clearing of the pavement, you’re going to take away our beauty and our strength. We need a much more strategic approach to our redevelopment.” 

Rocky Mountain Power’s Gadsby Plant in the Fairpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

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