City Approvals Not Necessary for LDS Church to Proceed

None by KCPW

Workload Will Add Jobs in City Building Services

(KCPW News) Salt Lake City Council members are excited about the LDS Church's nearly $2 billion, five-year plan to revamp two city blocks adjacent to Temple Square. Given the private nature of the enterprise, however, there isn't much approval the church needs from the city in order to proceed:

"The only thing that I'm aware of where they may need to come to the City Council would be a master plan amendment to allow a pedestrian bridge across Main Street," says Dave Buhler, chair of the City Council. He says the sky bridge will be subject to the planning process, which will include public hearings at both the planning commission and city council levels, but the LDS Church does not need special permission to demolish structures on the 20-acre site, including the historic First Security Bank Building and the Inn at Temple Square.

As hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space, hundreds of condos, five office towers and a grocery store enter the city's permitting process, Buhler says he anticipates increasing city personnel in building services:

"Fortunately, from a budgetary standpoint, it will be more than paid for by the building permit fees they'll be paying to the city. As they're ready to go, we need to be ready to respond in a timely way, as we should for any project, frankly. But I'd hate to see the city delay them another two years while they waited in line to get their plans approved. So we can't allow that."

For a longer conversation on the subject with Buhler, Salt Lake City Councilman from downtown's District 7, click here.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW