This week, the church-owned City Creek Reserve Inc. briefed the Salt Lake City Council on plans to expand underground parking access on South Temple, West Temple, 100 South and Social Hall Avenue.

The church - which is leading the $1 billion-plus overhaul of the old ZCMI Center and Crossroads Plaza malls - is asking to buy property rights four feet below the surface and deeper. The price would be determined by an outside appraiser. Although the purchases would be termed "partial street closures," public access aboveground would be preserved.

Alan Sullivan, legal counsel for CCRI, said the company already owns subsurface rights for existing parking ramps, but needs to expand those rights to accommodate more traffic to and from City Creek lots.

Some council members asked that a mid-road parking ramp planned for South Temple - it would replace the current north-side access to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building - not detract from the street's appearance. Two questioned whether extending the Social Hall Avenue tunnel to two underground parking lots would keep people from the street.

Councilwoman Jill Remington Love said she would rather see people walking across State Street than through an underground tunnel to access residential and office parking lots.

Council colleague Soren Simonsen agreed.

"One of the prefaces and promises of this project is that it will enliven downtown," he said. If pedestrians are "separate from downtown, even if they are going from their office to their car, we've missed an opportunity."

But Simonsen said it wasn't a "deal breaker" and suggested the developers work to restore a State Street crosswalk in addition to expanding the tunnel.

The prospect of losing street-level activity is a concern with the proposed skywalk as well. Critics fear the bridge will funnel shoppers between City Creek's stores and restaurants at the expense of Main Street vibrancy.

Departing Mayor Rocky Anderson, who has warned the sky bridge would create a downtown "gerbil cage," has vowed not to grant air rights for the connector. The church appears to be waiting for a friendlier administration to submit plans for the bridge; the top four candidates vying to replace Anderson in 2008 all have said they would not block it.

The City Council plans a public hearing on the church's subsurface proposal Sept. 18. Council members likely would vote on whether to sell those property rights then or wait until their next meeting. The Planning Commission approved the plan in November 2006.

rwinters@sltrib.com

* The Salt Lake City Council plans a public hearing Sept. 18 on the LDS Church's proposal to buy underground property rights.