Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ballpark Reszone topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning commission backs Ballpark rezoning amid neighbor concerns about lost green space
Summary
The Planning Commission voted 5–2 to recommend city council adopt CRA-sponsored zoning and text changes to implement the Ballpark Next plan, approving up to 150-foot frontage heights on 1300 South and a mixed-use vision that includes adaptive reuse, 460 housing units and about 4.8 acres of publicly accessible open space. Neighbors urged more contiguous green parkland and preservation of the stadium.
The Salt Lake City Planning Commission voted to recommend that the City Council adopt a Community Reinvestment Agency (CRA) proposal to rezone the city-owned Ballpark site and apply related text amendments to implement the CRA-adopted Ballpark Next community design plan.
Staff told commissioners the proposal would convert public-land (PL) and RMF-35 zones across the 14.8-acre site into mixed-use districts (MU11 and MU5), enable building heights up to 150 feet along the south side of 1300 South for buildings meeting active-use standards, and remove the existing ballpark sign overlay in the public land section of the sign chapter. Planning staff said the request implements the Ballpark Next plan and is consistent with Plan Salt Lake, the Ballpark Station Area Plan, and the city’s anti-displacement strategy.
CRA project staff described the plan as a community-driven vision that centers adaptive reuse of the stadium, a festival street on West Temple, daylighting a creek, and creating new publicly accessible open space. Hayden Callaway, CRA project coordinator, said the preferred alternative envisions roughly 4.8 acres of publicly accessible green/open space, roughly 460 housing units that mix attainable and market-rate housing, about 75,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, and civic uses such as a potential library and a relocated fire station.
Public commenters, led by Amy J. Hawkins, chair of the Ballpark Community Council, urged commissioners to prioritize large, contiguous green parkland. Hawkins said the plan would reduce on-site green space from about 5 acres to roughly 2.65 acres and warned that the neighborhood suffers from an urban heat island effect that trees and soil-based green space help mitigate. "Green space was part of those priorities," Hawkins said, asking the commission to weigh how public land should deliver benefits that private development cannot.
Other neighbors and community groups echoed calls for preserving the stadium as a community asset, increasing tree canopy, and ensuring the site provides family-friendly and recreation space rather than primarily high-density housing. Several speakers asked the CRA to retain more of the stadium structure for year-round community events and festivals.
CRA staff responded that the plan converts areas that are currently inaccessible (ticketed turf and large asphalt lots) into publicly accessible parks, a creek park and a park promenade with tree canopy, and said RFPs for development will include landscaping and sustainability preferences. Staff also clarified that the CRA prefers to retain ownership of the land and will run an RFP process and financial analysis to determine development phasing and potential funding gaps.
Commissioners debated trade-offs between a larger contiguous park and a mixed-use, transit-oriented redevelopment. Some members said the site is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure parkland and asked the CRA to increase green space and affordable housing commitments. Others supported the rezoning as aligned with adopted plans and argued the proposal replaces a largely inaccessible asphalt parking lot with publicly accessible spaces and a plan for long-term activation.
After discussion the commission voted to forward a positive recommendation to city council for the zoning map and text amendments as recommended by staff. The motion passed on a 5–2 roll call: Jeffrey Barrett, Laya Rosenfield, Brian Scott, Anna Sullivan and Michael Bella voted yes; Amy Barry and Richard Lebert voted no. The commission’s recommendation will go next to City Council for briefing, public hearing and final decision.
What happens next: the council will hold its own hearings before making a decision. CRA staff said they expect the CRA to proceed with property transfer steps, issue RFPs for development blocks, and complete a financial analysis to refine phasing and funding needs. The commission noted that RFPs present an opportunity for the CRA to require additional green infrastructure, green roofs and other sustainability measures than what appears in the illustrative plan.
