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Salt Lake City outlines North Temple economic-development study; recommends task force, business district and parking changes
Summary
Salt Lake City staff presented a WFRC-funded North Temple economic development study that documents large housing growth in the corridor and recommends a business-district special assessment area, a dedicated liaison to businesses, master-leasing of ground-floor retail and parking changes subject to UDOT review.
Jake Maxfield of Salt Lake City's economic development office presented findings from a Wasatch Front Regional Council–funded study of North Temple and the surrounding corridor and recommended near-term actions to support ground-floor retail and economic activity as thousands of housing units come online.
"We applied back in September of 2022," Maxfield said, summarizing the timeline, and noted that private development plans and an opportunity zone designation have accelerated housing growth in the study area between I‑15 and 215. The presentation showed roughly 14,000–15,000 housing units either planned, permitted or under construction within the broader corridor; Maxfield said an estimated 6,000 of those units were likely to be in the Power District area, a figure he described as conservative.
Maxfield listed primary recommendations: appoint a business liaison or task-force coordinator to improve communication between city construction/project teams and local businesses; consider a special assessment area (SAA) or similar business-district mechanism to fund area amenities; explore a master-lease model for ground-floor retail so the city or redevelopment agency can curate tenants and stabilize early leasing; and address parking constraints by exploring closure of outer travel lanes during certain hours to create curb parking.
Maxfield said crime and safety concerns remain a key constraint for businesses and that the city is coordinating the study recommendations with the mayor's homelessness adviser and the city's safety plan. He noted that some planned ground-floor retail spaces built to meet development requirements are sitting vacant and that master-leasing or tenant-improvement investments could help activate those spaces.
Maxfield cautioned that any lane-closure or curb-parking changes would likely require inclusion in a UDOT-approved mobility plan under recent transportation legislation and that the Wasatch Front Regional Council's planned transportation study for the Power District will be monitored for traffic-volume and multimodal impacts.
City staff said they will provide the full study to committee members on request and coordinate follow-up communications through WFRC staff.
