Utah Heritage Foundation

As you may know, what is being dubbed the Hub District has long been known as the Warehouse District.  That name even dates back to before The Gateway was even a thought!  The Hub District, an area with SL Central Station (formerly known as the Intermodal Hub) has been going through a planning process to give agency and government officials ideas as to what the future should look like.

As described by Envision Utah, the Depot District is one of six key locations identified in the Wasatch Choice for 2040 (WC2040). WC2040 is the land-use and transportation “Vision” for Salt Lake, Weber, Davis and Utah Counties, developed by elected officials and the public to improve our quality of life as our region experiences dramatic growth.  Implementing the Vision will allow us to absorb a 65% population growth (1.4 million additional residents) over the next 30 years, while enhancing our economy, protecting our beautiful natural areas, providing more housing and transportation choices, saving money and energy, and improving our air quality and health.

Thursday September 15th 7:00 - 8:00 pm

Meet at the 500 East Entrance to the “S” (main classroom) building

Proposed Development Plan for Pleasant Grove Civic Center

Position Statement 

September 2, 2011

This came from the city after the most recent Planning Commission meeting.

"On August 10, 2011 The Planning Commission voted unanimously on the Small Neighborhood Business Amendment to forward a favorable recommendation of the proposed ordinance to the City Council.  Additional issues for discussion include; Parking impacts of commercial activities and other developments on residential properties.  Discussion of better illustrations and definitions for our sign ordinance and discuss the options and opportunities for property owners who may want to opt out of the future map amendment portion of the petition.  This would maintain their nonconforming status."

In short, this is really good news.  The amendment recognizes the value of small commercial buildings, many of the existing being historic, and the value of small businesses in neighborhoods across the city.  Anything that combines these two characteristics can only make Salt Lake City a better place.  Great work by the Planning Division.  Let's hope the city council is unanimous in voting for this.

Back on May 19, Salt Lake City Planning held a workshop with property and business owners, nearby residents, stakeholders, and other interested parties to discuss how to make 400 South a more inviting, livable corridor through good planning.  With large maps and markers, participants were able to describe their perfect neighborhood.  They included ideas about future land use, historic preservation, housing, transportation, jobs, walkability and transportation, and more.

This work is taking place thanks to a grant to the city from HUD to focus efforts on building better community around the three TRAX stops on the boulevard.

Of course, there are likely hundreds of historic properties within the 1/2 mile wide corridor that is being studied.  Many of those that exist today are in direct conflict with the city's zoning which allows up to 7 1/2 stories within the transit corridor, which is one block on either side of the transit line on 400 South.

In the April 2011 Community Newsletter produced by the University of Utah, among the campus projects announced was the pending demolition of Carlson Hall.  This is the first time the long-rumored new building for the U of U Law School has been publicly announced to be on the site of the historic women's residence hall turned classroom building.

Located on one of the most prominently seen sites on campus (corner of University Street @ 400 South), this structure completed in 1938, was designed by prominent SLC architects Ashton & Evans and built with WPA funds.  Carlson Hall was named after August Carlson who bequested $121,519.22 to the university upon his death.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 and also served as classrooms for numerous departments, mostly recently Math and Humanities.  It may not only be a target due to its prominent location on campus and proximity to the current Quinney Law School building, but also due to its understated architectual style which was prominently used at the time of construction.  Buildings of this type were not ostentious and the public would not supported that type of building in an era of going without meeting basic needs which led to being fiscally astute.

While historic preservation has played a prominent role on President's Circle where the majority of the oldest structures exist, it's unfortunate that a university that pledges to be concerned about sustainability and green building principles cannot see how conserving an entire building supports that policy and implement a campus-wide policy for historic preservation and rehabilitation.  It's left up to each individual school or college and its Dean with nearly carte blanche acceptance of whatever they dictate as long as the financial bottom line is met.  In my experience, only federal judges may have more power to dictate building projects.

Since 2004, UHF has been raising awareness about the historic and architectural significance of the former Salt Lake City Main Library.  Completed in 1964, the style structure originally designed by Edwards & Daniels Architects (now EDA Associates) was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places because of the work of UHF and the Utah Division of State History Preservation Office.  Due to a grant from FEMA for seismic upgrade, the project went through the Section 106 process during design arriving at a system of steel framing within the public space of the to be museum space to be.  The Leonardo embarked on the $15 million rehabilitation in January 2010 with a goal to open in Summer 2011.  The current project architect is AJC Architects, Salt Lake City.  As another positive step, the project has been designed with excellent environmental considerations, including historic preservation through materials conservation, and will apply for LEED Gold designation.  In the end, it appears that using the braced frame seismic system, recommended as the preferred option over concrete shear walls by preservationists due to its transparency, will also save the city and The Leonardo money as it will be nearly $300,000 cheaper than the original estimate for concrete shear walls.  A fabulous example of meeting both the goals of preservation and engineering safety is an elegant manner.

We recently toured the building to see the progress and wanted to give you a look at the work in progress.

Top left: View of seismic braced framing.

Despite the advocacy of Utah Heritage Foundation and our constituency requesting a veto of SB 243 Substitute 1, yesterday, Governor Herbert signed the bill into law.

This will put a one-year moratorium into effect for the Yalecrest neighborhood of Salt Lake City starting on May 10^th for considering any local zoning tools for teardowns, right-sizing additions and garages, or design guidelines, and while the moratorium is in place, implements a restriction against demolition by not allowing permits for wholesale “demolition” within the neighborhood.

However, the biggest change may come after the Land Use Task Force begins meeting during the summer to consider changes to the state statute for local historic districts.  Proposal that come from the LUTF can easily get made into bills for the next legislative session and are widely considered by Legislators as a vetting process for statewide land use policy, though it is a closed process from the public.

SB 243 Substitute – Historic Areas or Sites Amendments

If you’ve been keeping up with our advocacy alerts, you may already realize that Senate Bill 243 has morphed several times during the session, leading preservationists across the state from one confusing proposal to another.  Each time it changed though, similar questions arose time and time again:  Isn’t this only about Yalecrest?  Does the bill only affect Yalecrest?  Can you get it only to affect Yalecrest?

At the end of the day, the bill was narrowed such that it directly affected the Yalecrest Neighborhood during a one-year moratorium period.  From the wide ranging scope that SB 243 started with, the result that was arrived at by sponsor Sen. Niederhauser (R-Sandy) is likely the least impactful possible.

H

Congressman Rob Bishop (above, 4th from left) knows how to work a room.  Preservation leaders applauded when he said he supports tax credits for rehabbing historic buildings.  He drew even more applause when he said he would support a federal homeowner tax credit.

Bishop (R-UT-01), the Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands of the House Committee on Natural Resources, was the keynote speaker at the joint Advocacy Day luncheon of the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC), the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Preservation Action.  The groups met at the historic Hotel Fairfax in Washington D.C. on March 7-9, 2011 for their annual mid-year meeting, scheduled to coincide with the release of the President’s budget, and the beginning of appropriations hearings for FY 2012.

Rob Bishop lives in a historic home in Brigham City, Utah, a community brimming with historic buildings, and is a member of the House Historic Preservation Caucus.  He explained that he supports federal rehabilitation tax credit programs, including one for homeowners, because they promote private investment by local property owners rather than mandating federal intervention and funding.