So unpopular is the Simpson site that as of Tuesday night, residents had donated more than $2,000 toward a $10,000 nonrefundable deposit the city paid on the property. The City Council heard again Tuesday night from a litany of concerned residents during its public input session.
The close date on 653 E. Simpson is in June, Deputy Chief of Staff David Litvack said Tuesday during somewhat off-topic questions from the council about the city's legislative priorities.
Council member Lisa Adams asked Litvack when the city would share more information about the purchase, which was made the day before the Dec. 13 site announcements, while Mayor Jackie Biskupski was out of town visiting her ailing father. Litvack said they would have a report in the next two days.
"How is it that we are buying out a lawsuit?" asked Adams, whose district includes 653 E. Simpson and who has proposed withdrawing the site and making do with three. The city paid $300,000 to the property owner, Forest Company, to resolve a lawsuit against Utah Transit Authority relating to the construction of a nearby S-Line station.
"How is it that we're having to buy out leases?" Adams continued, referring to four businesses and four residential tenants on the 2.8-acre property.
City spokesman Matthew Rojas said Tuesday that the purchase reflects fair market value in the area and that what made the property so valuable also makes it ideally suited to help homeless families.
City Council member Erin Mendenhall, whose district boundary is a few blocks from the site, has joined Adams in opposition but favors choosing a new fourth site instead of reducing the overall number.
Mendenhall told Litvack on Tuesday that the administration ought to engage nearby South Salt Lake in a conversation about relocating the Simpson Avenue tenants.
But the proposed location has drawn opposition from that municipality, too. Late last month, 32 residents from the "Commonwealth Coalition" in South Salt Lake signed a petition sent to the mayors of both cities, outlining what they say is the unsuitability of a 653 E. Simpson Ave. homeless shelter.
Lit'l Scholars day care said in an email to parents last month that the city was helping it search for a new location within 1.5 miles of its current spot, and that it could be two years before the facility is forced to move.
Two of the four proposed shelter sites — Simpson Avenue and 648 W. 100 South — are at least a year away from completion of the public process required for rezoning and conditional use, while others, at 275 W. High Avenue and 131 E. 700 South, are about nine months away.
mpiper@sltrib.com
Twitter: @matthew_piper
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