The 3 1/2-year-old squabble over the Liberty Park tennis bubble likely isn't over yet.

Salt Lake City's Historic Landmark Commission voted last week to legalize construction of the bubble, which has been in place over four tennis courts at the park during winter months since November 2004.

The decision likely will be appealed by Melissa Barbanell, a lawyer and park neighbor who contends the bubble does not meet requirements of a historic landmark site such as Liberty Park.

Barbanell said she initially was worried about how the bubble would look, though that no longer is her main concern.

"I continue to be concerned that (Salt Lake City officials) follow the law," she said.

Barbanell said she's bothered by the way the city's Planning and Zoning Division approved the bubble's construction in a historic site without a hearing of the Historic Landmark Commission. Liberty Park was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

"I'm concerned about Liberty Park as a landmark site," she said. "If a 27,000-square-foot tennis bubble is allowed to be constructed in violation of the ordinance, then they can build just about anything they want in Liberty Park. The ordinance doesn't matter at that point."

Barbanell has been opposed to the bubble at Liberty Park ever since it received administrative approval from the city in June 2004. That decision was reviewed and upheld in January 2005 by the city's Board of Adjustment and then taken to the 3rd District Court, which instructed the city to start over with the decisionmaking process.

A second round of approvals and appeals began in June 2006, when city staff approved a certificate of appropriateness for the tennis bubble. City staff concluded that the bubble was a minor alteration and that approval from the Historic Landmark Commission was not needed because Liberty Park is the landmark site, not the tennis courts.

The city's Board of Adjustment in July 2006 upheld the decision, which again was appealed to the court.

On Nov. 2, 2007, Judge Robert P. Faust ruled against the city, determining that the tennis bubble at Liberty Park was new construction — not a minor modification — to a landmark site.

"We have different standards in our zoning ordinance for new construction," said Joel Paterson, city planner. "We were instructed by the court to review it with the Historic Landmark Commission using those new construction standards."

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That review took place Wednesday, and the commission again granted approval.

Barbanell said she's not satisfied with the review, saying commissioners too easily accepted the staff report on the bubble and didn't evaluate or analyze the ordinance. That, she said, is why she "very likely will appeal."

"I really empathize with these people who want to play tennis in the winter," Barbanell said, "but I just think the city needs to follow its laws. You can't just develop ordinances and then ignore them when it suits you. I think that's what they've done in this case over and over again."


E-mail: jpage@desnews.com

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