Salt Lake City Council approves Sunnyside Park lease for U Baseball; changes public comment rules under fire from residents. 

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The Salt Lake City Council convened on the evening of March 5 to recognize March as Women’s History Month, as well as to adopt changes to the Council’s general comment policies. The Council also approved the leasing of a section of Sunnyside Park to the University of Utah for a new baseball stadium. Councilmember Darin Mano was absent.

Women’s History Month
The Council voted to adopt a joint ceremonial resolution with Mayor Mendenhall to recognize March as National Women’s History Month in Salt Lake City. They recognized the month with the theme “Celebrating Women’s Contributions to Equity and Inclusion.”

“Salt Lake City acknowledges the indispensable role that women have played in shaping the cultural, economic and social fabric of our community,” Councilmember Sarah Young read from the resolution.

General Comment Policy
The Council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution amending policies for public comment at its meetings. The new amendment limits the portion of Council meetings dedicated to general comments to one hour and limits individual speakers to no more than two minutes. This change does not impact comment on items specifically included on a meeting’s agenda.

“Today we're updating our general comment policy to preserve our ability to effectively conduct city business and maintain a safe and welcoming public forum for all constituents,” Councilmember Chris Wharton said.

The Council discussed this change during a work session on March 5. In that discussion, Council members emphasized the need to keep public comment safe for all viewpoints while also allocating city resources effectively.

In adopting this resolution, the Council also moved to allow comments in the form of recorded videos to be submitted to the Council.

“I'll note that with our city council meetings, they do cost money and they do cost taxpayer dollars,” Wharton said. He added that he has personally received statements from constituents explaining they’ve felt unsafe to comment at recent meetings and that they don’t support their tax dollars going to never-ending City Council meetings.

Wharton and the rest of the Council were met with angry yells from the audience. Wharton then called for a recess.

The vote on the changes and this latest disruption to Council proceedings come after a string of City Council meetings in which groups of pro-Palestine constituents have used the general comment period to call for a ceasefire resolution regarding the conflict in Gaza. In the previous Feb. 20 City Council meeting, general comment ran for roughly three hours before Councilmember Alejandro Puy adjourned the meeting before all those wishing to speak had done so.

After Tuesday’s meeting resumed, Wharton later attempted to readjourn over an audience member’s reading of a poem they had started while the Council was still in recess. And after several requests to stop the disruption, Wharton asked security to clear the room of people and took the general comments portion of the meeting off the agenda.

University of Utah Baseball Stadium
The Council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution authorizing a 99-year ground lease to the University of Utah for a roughly 1-acre section of Sunnyside Park. The U plans to use this land in the construction of a new baseball stadium. The leased land includes portions of one softball field and one multi-use field that will be lost in this development.

In exchange for this lease, the U will be committing $4.2 million to Sunnyside Park for improvements and maintenance.

In their adoption of this resolution, the Council also outlined a set of terms for this lease. Some of these conditions include making the stadium available for rent when not in use, permitting public access to the leased land when not in use and constructing restrooms that will be available for public use during park hours when the stadium is not reserved for events.

The complete set of terms is included in the Council’s motion sheet for this item, which can be found in the HTML Council meeting agenda available through the Salt Lake City government website.

“I want to thank all who engaged, who examined and made comments on this project,” said Councilmember Dan Dugan, who represents District 6 where Sunnyside Park is located. He added that he was looking forward to the process of engaging with the community to see how the public wants the $4.2 million to be used in the park.

New Historic District
The Council voted unanimously to establish the Yalecrest-Laird Heights Local Historical District after holding a public hearing on the ordinance. In these districts, demolitions and exterior changes to buildings are subject to review “to ensure that changes to historic properties are compatible with the site’s historic architecture,” as explained on slc.gov.

The Council also adopted an amendment to the Landscaping and Buffers chapter of the Salt Lake City Code. This amendment, among other things, requires water-wise and drought-tolerant landscaping, limits the amount of rock ground cover allowed in yards and bans the use of artificial turf in landscaping.