HOLLADAY — Owners of four acres that city officials want turned into a park instead of developed as an office building have a simple message.
"The park issue is irrelevant," Pete Sims said. "The park is dead."
For the second time in a year, Sims was requesting a zone change from the Salt Lake County Council that would allow the construction of a 100,000-square-foot office tower on his family's property near 6400 S. Holladay Blvd.
Three years ago, the Simses had worked out a deal with Utah Open Lands to sell the land for $1 million, and it could then be preserved as a park. When only half of the money had been raised in a year, however, the family withdrew its offer and decided to instead try to sell the land to be developed as part of the Old Mill Corporate Center.
A request for the zone change from residential zoning to office/research park zoning in June 2002 was denied 5-4 by the council, despite positive recommendations from the planning department staff, community council, and Planning Commission. The council's main concern was that the only access for the office tower would have been along the residential Holladay Boulevard, and members said they would be willing to reconsider the denial if alternative access was found.
During a public hearing about the rezone earlier this month, Sims told the council that a second access would be along 3000 East. A "cloverleaf" pattern of traffic flow would allow commuters to exit I-215 onto 3000 East and go directly to the office building, and they could leave by taking Holladay Boulevard to the I-215 onramp at 6200 South.
Opponents of the plan, primarily Holladay residents who live within a few blocks of the proposed project, worried that an additional office tower would further worsen the traffic in what they painted as an idyllic, residential area that is starting to be inundated by traffic problems. Instead, they urged the County Council to keep the property zoned for one-acre residential lots, and allow the residents time to find a way to purchase the land and build a park.
"This area is one of the most primitive areas left in the county," Holladay City Councilman Hugo Diederich said. "I would hope that the area could be preserved for future generations as open space."
The council is expected to vote on the zone change May 20. If the zone change is not granted, the Simses can submit a new application to the Millcreek Township Planning Commission, which would start the process again.
E-MAIL: jloftin@desnews.com