Salt Lake City west-siders shouldn’t expect to see multiple sports venues rising on their side of town anytime soon. For now, legislators are keeping their eyes on professional baseball.
On Friday, in the waning hours of the Legislature’s general session, lawmakers struck clauses from a multifaceted bill that would’ve allowed Utah Fairpark Area Investment and Restoration District officials to funnel tax dollars to multiple stadium projects within the district’s boundaries. The bill, SB336, later passed both chambers.
“We’re removing references to multiple stadiums,” Ogden Republican Rep. Ryan Wilcox, the bill’s House sponsor, said, “so that it’s in line with the original bill we passed out of this body last year.”
The legislation that passed Friday allows district officials to use sales tax dollars to start paying for construction of a proposed Major League Baseball stadium and any related infrastructure, like parking garages, before a team is awarded to the Beehive State.
The Larry H. Miller Co. is aiming to bring a ball club to Utah’s capital and would lead the development of a west-side stadium.
SB336 also allows the district to spend public dollars on “cleanup or security relating to outdoor recreation infrastructure,” likely a nod to the Jordan River Trail and the long-held public safety concerns attached to it. Tremonton Republican Sen. Scott Sandall, the legislation’s other sponsor, told a Senate committee last week that the district could create its own police force to manage security in the future.
If signed by Gov. Spencer Cox, the bill would also let the Fairpark district’s board levy property taxes within its boundaries and broaden the Utah State Fairpark’s ability to lease its land.
The state-created district, often called the UFAIR District, is the enabling force behind the Power District development being pursued by the Larry H. Miller Co. along North Temple, near Redwood Road. That project and the UFAIR District it occupies have created significant concerns for Salt Lake City leaders as they’ve negotiated with the company over what the west-side neighborhood will look like.
State legislators approved the MLB ballpark and the state district tasked with overseeing its construction last year, earmarking $900 million in public funding for the future stadium.
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