A proposal to close Main Street in Salt Lake City between North and South Temple streets and create an open-space plaza between Temple Square and the Church Administration block was announced Dec. 1.
The proposal was presented to representatives of the news media at a briefing in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.Church leaders and Salt Lake City officials said the proposed development would:
Expand Temple Square gardens to provide pleasant walkways, and open space uniquely designed to enhance cultural events and displays in downtown Salt Lake City that will accommodate the increasing number of visitors.
Increase the personal safety of large crowds in the downtown area by providing direct pedestrian access between Temple Square and the Church Administration Plaza, and connecting the visitor/tourist to the downtown business district.
Create a year-round "destination" where visitors from around the world can enjoy the culture and beauty of the city. Among other attractions, special Christmas programs will be inaugurated with additional lights, music and displays.
Expand the Church's present underground parking facility, adding 650 car stalls to the parking already located beneath the Church Office Building plaza. The extra parking spaces will take pressure off existing mall and surface parking areas.
The proposals will now go through the public process for review and final approval by the Salt Lake City Council.
After Presiding Bishop H. David Burton introduced the proposal to representatives of the media, President Gordon B. Hinckley and Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini gave brief remarks.
"When you can combine utility with beauty you do a very significant thing. That's what we feel is happening here under this proposal," President Hinckley said.
President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, and President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, attended the briefing. Also present were Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve; Elder Cecil O. Samuelson of the Seventy; and Bishop Richard C. Edgley and Bishop Keith B. McMullin, counselors in the Presiding Bishopric.
In announcing the proposal, Bishop Burton pointed out various features on architectural renderings of the plaza. He said the Church, with the encouragement and support of Mayor Corradini and her administration, is proposing to buy from the city the surface rights to the one-block section of Main Street. The sub-surface rights were purchased a number of years ago when the city and the Church collaborated to turn two parking lots at the corner of North Temple and State Street into City Creek Park and Brigham Young Historic Park, which were dedicated Oct. 2, 1995.
With the creation of the parks, located just east and northeast of the Church Office Building, the Church lost access to a number of parking stalls. At that time, the Church acquired the sub-surface rights beneath the one-block section of Main Street with the idea of replacing those parking spaces with a facility beneath Main Street. The Church is now petitioning the city to allow construction of the parking facility.
Closing Main Street between North and South Temple and making it an open-space plaza was first proposed in 1962 in the "Second Century Plan" for downtown Salt Lake City. The current proposal is the final element of 14 major projects to improve the economic and cultural viability of the downtown area.
New lawns, flower gardens and reflecting pools are part of the proposal for the plaza.
In remarks at the briefing, President Hinckley said that it was a privilege to work with the city on the proposal. "This has been going on for a long time," he said in reference to the "Second Century Plan."
"We're faced with an opportunity to do the whole thing and to do it well," President Hinckley said as he explained the Church's participation in helping complete the city's master plan.
President Hinckley said, "We hope that we will have the support of the community," he said, adding that he thinks it will bless many people and be "a tremendous asset to the citizens of the entire city, the community and state. Increasingly, we're having larger and larger numbers of tourists visit here. We must accommodate them in the best way that we know how . . . so that they have a very friendly, delightful experience when they come here.
"We're very proud of the gardens that we now have upon this square. We will enhance those gardens and the whole ambiance of this downtown area through the creation of this beautiful park that will spring forth. . . . We are happy to be a part of this great undertaking. We love this city. We have a part in its progress and what happens. We've tried to make this part of the city just as beautiful and attractive as we can do so."
Bishop Burton referred to the "Second Century Plan," which included efforts to bring City Creek to the surface. City Creek is of significance in the history of the city and the Church. Water from the creek sustained life after the Mormon pioneers settled the Salt Lake Valley. The creek water provided the main source of irrigation for crops. Since 1914, the creek had been forced to run underground. Design for the two parks the Church and city cooperated to create included bringing the water of City Creek to the surface again. It flows through City Creek Park, goes under Second Avenue, and resurfaces to flow in Brigham Young Historic Park.
"Flowing water would be a marvelous feature of downtown Salt Lake City," he said of the plan's intent. "With the completion of the new assembly building, a segment of City Creek will come to the surface."
Bishop Burton said that if approvals are granted in an expeditious manner by the city council, construction should begin in spring of 1999 and be completed by the time the new assembly hall is finished in the spring of 2000.
Mayor Corradini said that she was pleased to "participate in another exciting and wonderful partnership with the LDS Church. We've done some wonderful things together, and this is another one. Our goal has been, since the 1962 master plan came out -- which included this block -- to make our city more pedestrian-friendly and also protect our residential neighborhoods so that people would want to live in the city."
The plaza, she said, will be not only a beautiful place for people to visit and walk, but also will help improve activity and business on Main Street. "This provides a wonderful buffer between Capitol Hill and the Avenues neighborhoods from the downtown business district -- a beautiful buffer," she said. Traffic studies indicate that the plaza will help traffic flow and protect those neighborhoods, "which are so crucial to us," she added.
Addressing the proposal for the Church to add underground parking, Mayor Corradini said, "There is nothing more ugly than a parking lot on the surface of the street. The LDS Church has shown how a parking lot can change not only into a beautiful park but can bring apartments into beautiful housing, which we need so badly in this city. To be able to get parking underground is a wonderful thing for our city as well."
The plaza, she said, will enhance the beauty of the city. "People want beautiful places," she said. -- Gerry Avant