SOUTH SALT LAKE - In a 6-1 vote, the Granite School Board took a stand Tuesday in support of a $100 million tax subsidy to help a developer launch a $550 million makeover of Holladay's 57-acre Cottonwood Mall.
Of that sum, $52 million would be diverted from the school district and $15 million from Salt Lake County over 20 years.
The school board's vote followed on the heels of the Salt Lake County Council's 6-2 decision Tuesday afternoon, also in support of the upscale endeavor - as long as the plan allows for 20 percent affordable housing somewhere in Holladay.
Republican County Council members Jeff Allen and Marv Hendrickson voted against it.
Terry Bawden was the lone no-vote on the school board, asking that an independent, out-of-state study be conducted to assess whether the project could advance in a reasonable time without the public subsidy.
The rest of the board, however, was ready to move forward and pledge its support.
"I was up until 2 a.m. last night, weighing all the different angles and getting it all down on paper," said board member Gayleen Gandy. "I decided a yes vote would be in favor of all the children in the district."
Tuesday's county and district votes determine how four of the eight members of the project's Taxing Entity Committee (TEC) will lean this Friday. With Holladay's two TEC votes - from Councilman Grant Orton and former Councilman Steve Peterson - the project is assured a supermajority of six votes needed to pass.
In July, Chicago-based General Growth Properties announced its plan to tear down the 1960s era big-box mall and erect a mixed-use European-style town in its place.
Project details include 534 residential units - high-end lofts, condos and single-family homes - plus 700,000 square feet of retail and 100,000 square feet of office space.
General Growth sought public funding to pay for costly infrastructure upgrades, including raising 40 low-lying acres out of the flood plain, rerouting Big Cottonwood Creek, and installing new roads and bridges.
The proposal involved using 75 percent of new property tax dollars generated by the project over 20 years. Holladay agreed to also forego 50 percent of its point-of-sale tax revenues over the same period.
The school district would get $171,000 a year until the project gets built, then a projected $905,000 annually until the 20-year bond gets paid off. After that, $4 million per year is projected to flow the district's way.
Royce Van Tassell, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, cautioned that such a "spectacular project" should be able to happen without a tax subsidy. He also warned that once built, it would merely shift tax revenues from somewhere else in the Salt Lake Valley.
cmckitrick@sltrib.com
jstettler@sltrib.com
At 11 a.m. Friday at Holladay City Hall, 4580 S. 2300 East, Taxing Entity Committee votes on Cottonwood Mall budget.
Results of a Dan Jones poll were presented Tuesday night. A survey of 400 residents in the area from 3300 South to 7200 South and 1100 East to the Wasatch Mountains was conducted Jan. 9-11. With a five percentage-point margin of error, 74 percent indicated support for the project.
