Plaza trade OK'd by Salt Lake council
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The future of the the plaza between South Temple and North Temple on Salt Lake City's Main Street is perhaps a bit clearer after the Salt Lake City Council voted June 10 to accept a proposal that would cede public easements at the plaza to the Church. In exchange, the Church would deed land it owns in west Salt Lake City to the city to be used for a community center.
If the proposal stands, the Church would be able to regulate public conduct on the Church-owned plaza, situated between the Salt Lake Temple and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and other downtown Church offices.
When the city sold for $8.1 million the block of Main Street between the Salt Lake Temple and the Church headquarters campus to the Church in 1999, it retained a public-access easement across the proposed plaza. In response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the easement creates a free-speech forum, and that the Church could not restrict behavior and speech on the plaza.
The issue has spawned months of divisiveness between those who feel the Church should be allowed to control conduct at the plaza and others who feel such control would violate free speech rights on public land.
Last December, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson announced the proposal to swap the plaza easements for Church-owned land in the city's Glendale community. A community center, funded by charitable contributions, would be built on the land, according to the Deseret Morning News. Mayor Anderson's proposal was approved by six council members in their June 10 vote. The seventh and final member abstained.
"The Church is gratified that the mayor, the city council and the Alliance for Unity have worked to resolve this issue in a way that benefits the community so significantly," said Church spokesman Dale Bills. "Once finalized, this agreement will preserve the peace and serenity of the plaza, a magnificent addition to downtown Salt Lake City, and provide a major additional community benefit to the city's west side."
Following the council vote, there is a 35-day grace period where either the mayor or the Church could back out of the deal. Then the land exchange would be finalized. The plaza easement would then be vacated and no public access would exist on the plaza. Also, the city would receive the deed to the Church's land in Glendale, and the $5 million in charitable contributions to build the community center would be transferred to city coffers, the Deseret Morning News reported.
The courts may still have a say in the future of the Main Street Plaza. Several parties are considering lawsuits against Mayor Anderson's proposal.
