In a packed Wednesday night meeting at Rose Park’s Day-Riverside Library, Salt Lake City Council member Victoria Petro apologized to her neighbors.
“I’m sorry,” Petro said, her voice breaking with emotion. “I should have violated closed-session law. I should have taken the misdemeanor, and I should have told you sooner, but I didn’t. But this is what we can do now. So please use this moment.”
The west-side council member’s comments came hours after state officials announced a 1,300-bed homeless campus would be built on city-owned land at 2520 N. 2200 West.
About 70 people crammed into the library’s meeting room to have their voices heard on the selection of the site.
State homelessness coordinator Wayne Niederhauser and Utah Homeless Services Board Chair Randy Shumway fielded questions from a heated crowd about why residents hadn’t had an opportunity to discuss the site until the day it was announced.
Officials have previously cited sensitivity around real estate transactions as a reason for keeping the site selection process confidential.
Utah law allows elected officials — including City Council members — to enter into private discussions about certain matters, including property deals. Closed session violations can lead to a misdemeanor.
Matt and Nichole Solt will be the closest neighbors to the 16-acre campus, they said during Wednesday’s meeting, and have outbuildings on their property where they house animals.
If the Solts had known about the campus site, Nichole told the crowd that they would not have constructed a “beautiful barn” on their property a year ago, since the building would be a “great location” for homeless people to stay overnight.
“Sh-t’s going to go bad,” Matt Solt said. “...So I’m a little frustrated that you just say, ‘Hey, meeting tomorrow, we’re putting a big building in your backyard.’ I farm all that, I water all that — I got a 14-year-old kid. You want him to go out and check the water? What if Joe Blow, that you think is going to be safe, is not safe, because you can’t guarantee it.”
State officials have long envisioned a massive, centralized shelter as an answer to Utah’s worsening homelessness problem. Wednesday’s announcement of a site for such a facility came after nearly a year of searching for a suitable location.
Niederhauser has said the state intends to provide many of the services people will need on-site to encourage them to stay. The state also is planning to have robust security inside and outside the complex.
Still, attendee Bobby Taylor said building a campus in the Northpoint area is a “horrible idea.” Residents of 2200 West, he said, chose to live in the relatively remote part of the city because they want to be left alone. He urged state officials to take residents’ feelings into account by placing a police substation on the campus or waiving property taxes of nearby homeowners.
“Crime’s going to go up. The drug dealers are going to follow them,” Taylor said. “We’re all going to lose money in our property values, but we’re going to stay and fight. We have fields all around us — the homeless are constantly making fires. They’re going to start those fields on fire, and squatters in our outbuildings is going to be a bad situation for everybody involved.”
For her part, lifelong west-sider Nicole Green said this portion of the city already has safety concerns — people speed along 2200 West to the point she won’t allow her 10-year-old daughter to get the mail.
“There’s no security out there,” Green said tearfully. “Are you guys going to make sure they don’t come into our properties? We all go outside at night to check our animals. That’s just not an option anymore?”
In response, Shumway said safety concerns would be his top issue, and encouraged residents to “be loud” in their worries about the facility. Niederhauser added that more meetings like Wednesday’s will be held, and that the state plans to have a community representative involved in the discussions for the campus moving forward.
Late Wednesday, Gov. Spencer Cox weighed in on the campus discussion with a post on the social media platform X, lauding Niederhauser for securing the location.
This new campus will be a place where law enforcement, service providers, and local leaders work together to ensure safety and accountability, both inside the center and in the surrounding neighborhoods. Shelter alone is not enough; we must pair it with treatment, recovery, and a…
— Governor Cox (@GovCox) September 4, 2025
“This new campus will be a place where law enforcement, service providers, and local leaders work together to ensure safety and accountability, both inside the center and in the surrounding neighborhoods,” he wrote. “Shelter alone is not enough; we must pair it with treatment, recovery, and a path to long-term stability. By engaging the public throughout this process, we can build a system that improves safety, restores order, and helps people rebuild their lives.”
State leaders expect the campus to open in 2027.