HOLLADAY — If the city of Holladay closes part of Holladay Boulevard to block traffic from a planned office complex, the building's developer could prohibit local residents from crossing his land on foot or bicycles to access the nearby foothills.
Despite that threat, the first public meeting between the Holladay City Council and developer Richard Beckstrand was relatively friendly. And Beckstrand closed Thursday night's discussion on an optimistic note, expressing his hope those divided by the controversial project can learn to get along.
"What we're interested in is a spirit of cooperation here between us and Holladay," said Beckstrand, whose project site at 6441 S. Holladay Blvd. lies just outside Holladay city limits in unincorporated Salt Lake County.
Beckstrand's 100,000-square-foot Old Mill Corporate Center III office tower has been given conditional approval by Salt Lake County, which has ordered the developer to have 400 of the building's workers use the southernmost segment of Holladay Boulevard as an exit.
The county's concern is that by exiting onto neighboring 3000 East in the evening rush hour, those 400 workers would clog the street and pose a traffic safety hazard.
But Holladay officials feel the same way about Holladay Boulevard. They fear those 400 workers — who will make up to 1,200 trips out of the complex each day, Beckstrand admitted Thursday — will create safety hazards on Holladay Boulevard, and on 6200 South as they drive toward 3000 East and I-215.
Beckstrand attended the meeting with a handful of representatives, including members of the Sims family who are selling the land to Beckstrand's Old Mill Corporate Center III LLC. Among other things, they made the following points:They showed a video in which 25 cars repeatedly drove north on Holladay Boulevard and turned right on 6200 South to simulate the impact of 400 cars exiting during a one-hour period in the late afternoon. The traffic flowed smoothly, and the developers maintain 90 percent of that exiting traffic is likely to make that right-hand turn.
People would not use Holladay Boulevard to drive through the Old Mill III parking lot to reach 3000 East because in order to do so they would first have to drive through the building's parking garage.
The Sims family used the segment of Holladay Boulevard in question, south of 6200 South, as a commercial access for their sand and gravel business for years. Thus, the requested commercial use does not represent a new use of the road, and the developer is legally entitled to use it.
The developer agrees with the city that Holladay Boulevard should not be extended farther south, beneath I-215, to connect with 3000 East. But Beckstrand said Salt Lake County has expressed interest in condemning the needed property for such an extension.
"They have several good reasons, or at least legitimate reasons, that they would like to have that opened," he said.
Beckstrand said he would have come to the city for a discussion earlier but former Mayor Dennis Larkin denied his requests for a meeting.
"It's like we were not allowed to talk to Holladay, so this is kind of a new experience for us," he said.
The developer will pay for some improvements, as needed, to the intersection of Holladay Boulevard and 6200 South, but would not commit to paying for all the potential expenses.
Holladay officials asked a lot of questions Thursday, but did not make specific comments on Beckstrand's project. The possibility of closing the small segment of road has been mentioned, but primarily by Larkin — and his term expired at the end of the year. The City Council has not taken a formal position on the possible closure, and its legal staff has been researching the city's legal rights and potential ramifications of such a closure.
In the meantime, Holladay has filed a pair of lawsuits against Salt Lake County in an effort to prevent Beckstrand from using Holladay Boulevard as an exit for the building. The parties agreed not to discuss the legal issues surrounding the project Thursday.
A second meeting between the city and Beckstrand has been scheduled for Feb. 26.
E-mail: zman@desnews.com