Voices: Don’t cut Ballpark’s green space. It’s a matter of public health and historic inequity.

Salt Lake City is circulating a draft plan for the Smith’s Ballpark site — a rare, nearly 15-acre stretch of public land that includes the stadium, a large parking lot and Fire Station 8 at Main Street and 1300 South. Proposed features include a library, hotel, 460 housing units, a new fire station, retail space, 964 parking stalls and a play area — and, by our estimates, just 2.65 acres of green space, a reduction of over 40% from the almost 5 acres of green space that exist today.

This site could be transformative. But significantly cutting green space — especially in a neighborhood that already lacks it — would be a serious mistake.

This isn’t just about losing a lawn. It’s about amplifying exposure to extreme heat, worsening public health and ignoring a neighborhood’s long history of being underserved. Utah has warmed twice as fast as the global average over the past 50 years, and the Ballpark neighborhood is especially vulnerable.

We write about these disparities in temperature and health from our shared perspective as science educators and community leaders. Amy J. Hawkins chairs the Ballpark Community Council and teaches personalized medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Robert Wilson teaches climate science at Rowland Hall. In 2023, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Wilson led a community heat-mapping effort. The SLC Heat Watch Report confirmed what residents already feel: The Ballpark neighborhood is a heat island, hotter during the day and warmer at night than most other parts of the city. This isn’t a coincidence — it’s the legacy of historic redlining.

Eighty years ago, Ballpark was one of the neighborhoods marked “hazardous” for investment in federal mortgage maps. Redlined areas still suffer from lack of investment in parks and green spaces. A 2020 study from researchers at the Science Museum of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University showed that formerly redlined neighborhoods tend to have the highest surface temperatures — in large part because they have less green space.

That heat isn’t just uncomfortable — it’s deadly. Heat kills more people in the U.S. than any other kind of weather. And in the Ballpark neighborhood, where rates of asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease are dramatically higher than in other neighborhoods, heat makes chronic illness worse and chronic illness worsens the effects of heat.

Parks reduce heat. Salt Lake City’s own 2019 Parks & Public Lands Needs Assessment showed that the Central Community — including Ballpark — has the lowest park access in the city, just 2.8 acres per 1,000 people, and no natural lands nearby. Yet the city anticipates significant growth in this area. Why would we reduce green space where we already have the least — and where it’s already too hot?

The Ballpark Next plan includes more “open space,” but open space isn’t the same as green space. Green space means publicly accessible areas with vegetation — trees, grass, shrubs — that clean the air, cool the ground and make space for life to flourish. What drives the urban heat island effect isn’t just a lack of greenery, but an abundance of impermeable surfaces like asphalt, pavement and steel — materials that trap heat, repel water and block the natural cooling power of plants. Green space reduces temperatures through evaporation from soil and leaves and by shading surfaces that would otherwise absorb and re-emit heat.

Much of the proposed open space at Ballpark will be paved or “hardscaped,” which increases heat rather than reducing it. Paved plazas might be called “open,” but that doesn’t make them green — and they won’t protect residents from rising temperatures or worsening air quality.

In 2024, the Salt Lake City Council upzoned the area around the Ballpark stadium and TRAX station, allowing taller buildings and more housing. The Ballpark neighborhood is doing its part to help the city grow. But further reducing one of our only green areas to pack in more density? That’s not planning for equity. That’s burdening a community already carrying too much.

This isn’t just a neighborhood issue — it’s a question of public values. Just last month, Utahns across the political spectrum pushed back when Sen. Mike Lee suggested selling off federal public lands to create housing. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall herself co-sponsored a national resolution opposing the idea, stating that public lands should remain accessible for the benefit of all Americans.

Shouldn’t that same principle apply to city-owned land? Shouldn’t our neighborhoods have access to everyday public lands that protect us from heat and support our health?

Before we build on this site, we owe it to future generations to ask:

Salt Lake City doesn’t get many chances like this. The Ballpark neighborhood has stepped up for density, for housing, for growth. Now it’s time for the city to step up for Ballpark.

A city that’s serious about equity and resilience doesn’t shrink its green spaces — it protects and grows them, especially where they’re needed most.

Amy J. Hawkins, Ph.D., has served as Chair of the Ballpark Community Council since 2018, leading civic engagement efforts in Salt Lake City through organizing monthly public meetings and representing the Ballpark neighborhood in state and local forums. She is a faculty member at the University of Utah School of Medicine, but is writing on her personal behalf and not on behalf of the university.

Robert Wilson, M.S., is the Coordinator of Climate Studies at Rowland Hall where he teaches climate science. Wilson has a background in physiology and is especially interested in how heat affects the body. The views expressed here are his and don’t necessarily reflect those of his employer.

The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here, and email us at voices@sltrib.com.