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Flummoxed about how to balance recreation uses at Parleys Historic Nature Park, the City Council had considered unloading the de facto dog park to Salt Lake County.
"Really?" Salt Lake City Councilman Luke Garrott questioned last week, using a football analogy about being in the fourth quarter for a potential solution. "You want to punt?"
Two council colleagues — Carlton Christensen and Jill Remington Love — did. But they ultimately were outnumbered in a 5-2 straw poll.
"It's tempting, but it's an important resource," Garrott said. "And I don't know how the county would manage it."
The popular 88-acre gulch — some say it has been "loved to death" — sits near the mouth of Parleys Canyon off 2700 East and 2700 South. Technically part of the unincorporated county, the park is under city control. But that leaves questions about police and fire service and about enforcement if the city adopts a management plan balancing off-leash dog use with recreation activities.
"It's easy just to give it to them," Council Chairman J.T. Martin said about a county handoff. "I would say that we need to annex it. I don't know that it works unless we own it."
The city controls 63 acres, while the remaining 25 come under the county and the Utah Department of Transportation. But an annexation process, city staffers warn, can be complicated and time-consuming.
The council is resolved about one thing: Mayor Ralph Becker's proposed management plan, which the city paid a consultant $100,000 to fashion, won't fly. It was unanimously rejected last week.
Now the council is laboring to construct some kind of hybrid that is both environmentally responsible and kosher for canines.
"The management plan calls for all kinds of great things," Martin said. "But we have no means to pay for it." The price to pull off the comprehensive plan is estimated as high as $1 million.
"We all support the goals," Love said. "The sticky point is application."
Some headway was made. By straw poll, the council agreed to limit access to the creek. City leaders also endorsed the following goals:
• Protect and restore the riparian corridor.
• Improve water quality.
• Protect and restore natural resources and biodiversity.
• Protect and restore cultural and historic resources.
• Maintain and enhance multiple uses with minimal conflict.
• Uphold management responsibilities.
• Widen community stewardship and appreciation for the park.
In 2007, the council voted to make the entire gulch off-leash with a condition to develop a long-term master plan and management plan.
Becker's now-rejected plan called for two off-leash pooch play areas comprising 10 acres, plus another 2 miles of off-leash trails. It also designated space for BMX bikers, cyclists, hikers and nature enthusiasts. But it set aside a 7-acre wetland, closed worn-out entrances and made much of the hillsides off-limits.
Current recreation habits, without some restrictions, are "not sustainable," warned Sharen Hauri, the consultant who shepherded the study.
Still, flocks of dog lovers have crowded City Hall for months, protesting the plan as too restrictive.
"The park is not a roast to be carved up and dished out," Matthew Hansen told the council last week. Dog owners, he argued, have been great stewards of the park through the years.
"It's a serious concern that we're going to be segregating it," resident Ashley Dillree said. "It is the only place in the city that we have that's not fenced off."
Triathlete Barbara Sherwood said she is uncomfortable running through the area trails in the evening without the protection of a dog. What's worse, she said, the Parleys debate seems to be splintering an otherwise-cohesive community.
"We don't want to see it change," Sherwood pleaded. "I don't want to see the animosity grow."
What's next?
P The Salt Lake City Council will again discuss the proposed management plan for Parleys Historic Nature Park on Tuesday. Council Chairman J.T. Martin hopes for a decision by year's end.
Work session • About 3:45 p.m. at City Hall, 451 S. St.