It may be a "moot" point, Mayor Rocky Anderson admits, but Salt Lake City has made an offer to keep Real Salt Lake in Utah.
The mayor pushed a somewhat reluctant City Council on Tuesday to vote 4-2 in support of a resolution pledging $8.5 million in city money for a soccer stadium at the Utah State Fairpark, on North Temple at 1000 West, in the event negotiations for a Sandy site fall through.
That event has become less likely, the mayor and others said Tuesday, as the Senate earlier in the day approved a bill that would make way for a south-valley stadium. But Anderson insisted the city's resolution was "crucial."
"I think it's important we keep this on track in case something goes awry with the standing proposal, which it very well may," Anderson said.
But a few council members, including mayoral candidates Dave Buhler and Nancy Saxton, wondered aloud whether approving the resolution would be moving too quickly with too little time for public debate and comment.
"Let's face it: This has not gone through the normal process," Buhler said, noting that Tuesday's council briefing, discussion and vote were the first time the issue has been on a public agenda since Anderson and council members revived it in the wake of county Mayor Peter Corroon's decision to deny county funding last week.
Still, Buhler voted for the resolution, agreeing that "time is of the essence."
Saxton voted no, saying, "If we make a decision tonight the kind of notice that we will have given to the public to come for any kind of public information is minimal. We now have an issue that will be over $8 million and the public hasn't had enough information."
Councilman Eric Jergensen also voted no, saying he believed the Fairpark option was the "more reasonable" one but that he had concerns about having not seen projections of Real's viability at the Fairpark site.
Councilwoman Jill Remington Love recused herself, citing an unspecified relationship with a business that "deals with" Real.
The mayor said he, the governor and legislative leaders have consistently planned a "two-track" approach, with deals being worked out for a Sandy site and a Fairpark site, just in case problems cropped up with one or the other.
But Buhler said he got a different impression listening to Tuesday's Senate debate on the Sandy deal.
"I didn't hear anything about two tracks," he said. "It seemed very much like a 'kumbayah' moment."
The resolution approved Tuesday was a third revision since the mayor's proposal was first released Friday. The deal again offers $8.5 million in city money, which had been in the original proposal but went up to $12.5 million Monday as the team's projected costs increased.
The latest discount comes because the mayor said he has worked out an agreement with county leaders that would see at least $4 million come from the county. The city's resolution is contingent on the county money being approved.
It also requires the team to commit to staying in the state for at least 10 years and to provide media and stadium promotion for the city worth $1 million yearly for 50 years. It must build a stadium certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.
The city's investment in the stadium would be reimbursed by the promotion and by the future sale of surplus city property, as well as by tax increment financing. The team would pitch in $7.5 million it had planned to put toward a sports complex in the city's northwest. The complex money would be expected to come from the county.
In addition, the stadium would be projected to bring in $330,000 in property taxes for the city. Because the Fairpark is state-owned, the facilities there do not pay property tax.
The total cost of the stadium at the Fairpark is expected to be significantly cheaper than the one being proposed in Sandy, partly because facilities and infrastructure already exist at the Fairpark and the land is already owned by the state.
E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com