Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini has won her battle to get city support for an Olympic speed-skating oval on a downtown redevelopment site, but the war may be far from over.
The City Council voted Tuesday night to make the site, located between 200 West and 300 West and between 300 South and 400 South, the city's formal bid. But it did so under the condition that Pioneer Park, across from the block, never be used for a baseball stadium. They also stipulated that housing be included as part of development on Block 49.Officials from Salt Lake City, West Valley City and Oquirrh Park Fitness Center pitched their oval proposals Wednesday to the Utah Sport Authority. Sports Authority members said they will decide by July 8 where to build the oval. The agency will build a skating oval regardless of whether the city is awarded the 2002 Winter Games.
Low-income housing advocates predicted Tuesday night that the proposed mix of housing and a skating oval on Block 49 could make the site less palatable for the Sports Authority.
"The mix is problematic, but perhaps it can be done," said Steve Erickson, Utah Issues housing coordinator.
Although Corradini succeeded in getting her plan to the Sports Authority, the council's decision ruined her plans to combine the oval with a stadium and the Delta Center to form a sports corridor. Corradini announced the idea of an oval and a stadium earlier this year, shortly after she condemned parts of the city's current stadium, Derks Field, because of fears it may collapse.
A committee the mayor appointed to study the baseball-stadium issue unanimously voted to recommend the city build in Pioneer Park. But the City Council made it clear Tuesday they wouldn't support that plan. Officials of the Greek Orthodox Church, whose cathedral is located diagonally from Pioneer Park, placed a similar condition on their support for the oval.
"If the community thinks we objected before, they'll find out how we can really object if they start talking about a baseball stadium there again," said Sam Chelemes, president of the church's parish council.
Chelemes said the sound of 15,000 screaming fans would interfere with wedding ceremonies, which are considered among the church's most sacred sacraments, and with other services.
Before the council's vote Tuesday, Corradini said she would make no promises regarding a baseball stadium. She said the city is examining several potential stadium sites, of which Pioneer Park is one.
After reviewing new information about the proposed sites for the oval Wednesday night, including a plan to use the White Ball Fields across from the State Fairpark on North Temple, council members said that the decision was one of the toughest they had faced in elected office.
"No matter where the oval is placed, someone isn't going to like it," said Councilman Alan Hard-man.
Council members were told that demolition and land acquisition costs to make Block 49 suitable for the speed-skating oval bid would cost the city's redevelopment agency $2.3 million. Alice Larkin Steiner, RDA director, said that long-term plans may cost another $3 million to $4 million to buy land on the block that the RDA doesn't currently own. The additional land isn't needed for the first phase of the speed-skating oval.
Deseret News staff writer Joel Campbell contributed to this report.