Imagine this: It’s a Friday night in the summer, and you’re driving up one of Salt Lake’s major east-west corridors like 3300, 3900 or 4500 South. At every major intersection you see thriving town centers of various sizes — a handful of trendy local restaurants at one intersection, an outdoor plaza with shops at another, maybe even a park and playground at another. There are apartments, condos and townhomes at these centers, complementing the surrounding neighborhoods. There’s public space, food trucks, music, shaved ice. People are there too, of course, eating at the restaurants, looking in the shop windows or relaxing in the park. Bike racks are full, and small parking lots still have a few empty stalls. Would you like to live there?
Most of us would. At least according to the results of a survey released by Envision Utah. The survey found that 82 percent of Utahns want communities interspersed with mixed-use centers — communities where we can walk or bike easily to nearby shops, businesses, parks or restaurants, and where a variety of housing options can keep people in the community regardless of their stage of life. Realizing these centers, at least in Utah’s major cities, doesn’t require a huge outlay of money, just a coordinated effort to revitalize areas up and down the major corridors, making them similar to the main streets we used to build. We should vigorously pursue this vision.
Think of what these revitalized centers can do for your quality of life. In downtown Sandy we’re developing our 1,100-acre city center, the Cairns, with a work, play, shop, live combination. The “Mountain Meets Urban” concept brings world-class outdoor recreation together with a variety of housing options, amenities, public transportation, open space, parks and services. All of this designed to attract local residents and visitors for a destination experience.
Holladay provides a smaller example. There’s now a city hall with a new park and playground, a pedestrian plaza with shops and restaurants and a beautiful centerpiece to the community. Bringing this downtown center to life has put thousands of residents within walking distance of daily services, amenities and open space.
Not every center needs to be as big as Sandy’s or even Holladay’s. These centers won’t replace downtown or encroach on our existing neighborhoods. What they will do is limit how far we have to go to get our daily services — reducing driving (and emissions-related pollution) while making it easier for us to walk or bike. They’ll give us someplace where we can spend time with families or friends even when we don’t have much time or don’t want to worry about driving or parking. They’ll put people closer to their jobs, cutting down on time spent commuting. They’ll create housing options for our communities and allow people to live where it’s most convenient and where they can afford. Maybe most importantly they’ll help us enjoy our communities more.
So how do cities achieve this vision?
Talk to your city or community council. Talk to developers. Find out what their plans are for the centers near you. How are they going to make them pedestrian friendly? Will there be both housing and commercial/employment uses mixed together? Will front doors open to the street, or to large parking lots that pedestrians must traverse? What would need to change to make you want to walk there on a Friday night?
Talk about transportation. Do you have bike lanes or trails in your community? Is there reasonable access to public transportation? Are your intersections and sidewalks safe and friendly?
What about zoning? Does your community preclude a variety of families by restricting duplexes, apartments or townhomes? Do ordinances allow for apartments to be mixed with — maybe even built above — businesses? Are businesses required to install more parking spaces than they’ll need?
There are proven benefits to cities with mixed-use centers including lower household transportation costs, economic inclusion, local business growth and more farmland left undeveloped, but perhaps the most important reason is because they create a sense of community. They become a natural gathering place for residents and visitors alike to mingle — not a bad way to spend a Friday night, and hopefully an impending reality for cities across the state.
Tom Dolan is currently serving his fifth term as mayor of Sandy.