The Way Salt Lake City Used to Be

By DUSTIN TYLER JOYCE | URBPL 2010 | TUESDAY, 31 AUGUST 2004

Article: Holladay to adopt a village design by Derek P. Jensen, The Salt Lake Tribune,
Thursday, 26 August 2004, pp. C1 and C8

OWNTOWN REVITALIZATION is the hottest topic in urban planning in this valley lately. In Salt Lake
City, for example, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Taubman Companya
nationally-known development firmplan to invest up to $500 million to redevelop the ZCMI
Center and Crossroads Plaza malls in addition to relocating the campuses of LDS Business College and the
BYU Salt Lake Center to the Triad Center at 300 West and South Temple. City Hall hotly debates the topic
and the best approach government should take. Nordstrom, once threatening to leave the city altogether if it
wasnt allowed to move to The Gateway on downtowns west end, has agreed to stay as a part of a revitalized
city center.
This debate, however, certainly isnt unique to the states capital and largest city. Other cities across
the state and particularly, it seems, in this valley are wasting no time to redevelopor, in some cases like West
Valley City, Taylorsville, and South Jordan, createtheir city centers. Sandy in particular has created a brand
new civic center, complete with a new city hall, office buildings, a new Jordan High School, the South Towne
Centre shopping mall, and the southern terminus of the UTA TRAX light-rail line. Now, however, between
this new downtown and the historic district of the city, there is no well-defined center. Likewise, Murray,
Midvale, and Riverton, blessed with more historic and well-defined downtowns, have struggled to revitalize
them. For example, two years ago Riverton razed the last strip of historic storefronts in its downtown at
12600 South and Redwood Road to make way for a new Walgreens or, possibly, a controversial Wal-Mart.
Enter Holladay. Though one of the first areas in the Salt Lake Valley to be settled, it was one of the
last to incorporate, doing so only in 2000. Unlike other recently incorporated areas in Salt Lake, most notably
Cottonwood Heights, which have been pieced together from an almost unlikely combination of
neighborhoods, Holladay is geographically compact and cohesive and, for decades before incorporation,
enjoyed a unique identity character. Now with other up and coming cities in the valley, an aging population
and town center, and the flagging Cottonwood Mall, this old neighborhood but new city is having to find
itself again.
This article reports on a new ordinance adopted by the Holladay City Council last Thursday that
cement[s] design standards for the town center. The ordinancetweaked often since the springoutlines
size restrictions, how far a building can be set back from the street, aesthetics and landscaping standards.
Architect Ken Millard, community development director for Holladay City, explained the idea behind the new
rules: A little more homey, not big-boxey. We want activity on the streets again, like Salt Lake used to be.
In particular, the ordinance responds to some of the major problems of Holladays existing center:
As it stands, the area is a hodge-podge of aging storefronts, a spiffy strip mall adjacent to City Hall and the
states oldest pharmacy.
But crumbling asphalt, a dearth of sidewalks, and the dangerous five-pointed intersection [of 2300
East and Murray-Holladay Road] create what some in the city call an embarrassment.
And though the ordinance is intended to address current problems, the law itself is not without
controversy because of some of the problems it has the potential to create: luring the right developer;
choosing an appropriate grocery store and other retailers needed to bring people to the area; competition for
Cottonwood Mall; pitting the interests of developers against those of city residents; and an increase in area
rents, the cost of upgrading the areas buildings, and the potential need for a public subsidy to offset this
financial impact.
Whatever the outcome, this ordinance makes one thing clear: Holladay is still a city in the making.
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