Rocky now feeling upbeat about LDS downtown plan

Once concerned, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has a new perspective on the LDS Church's massive downtown redevelopment plans.

After a meeting Thursday with Presiding Bishop H. David Burton of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the mayor said many of his concerns regarding the church's downtown project have been alleviated.

While he declined to take questions about the meeting, Anderson released a statement Thursday indicating he is once again excited about the church's plans.

The statement noted "many of the concerns previously raised have been met by innovative design solutions. This will be a unique, exciting project bringing hundreds of new residents to the downtown area and attracting millions of people to beautiful new retail, residential and office facilities."

The mayor said he agreed to keep in confidence, specific details disclosed Thursday.

Bishop Burton released a statement Thursday, saying the church's plans remain conceptual.

"Conceptual design work continues for the church's downtown redevelopment project," the statement read. "The church and its partners are working hard to finalize designs and cost estimates."

Anderson had been the highest-profile voice to raise concerns that the church was building another enclosed shopping mall downtown. Such an enclosed mall would be far less attractive than a more open-air, traditional downtown setting, Anderson said.

"An enclosed mall trying to segregate people by keeping them inside the malls on these massive blocks are not what we're seeing in urban areas," Anderson told a gathering of downtown advocates and planners in April. A month earlier he told reporters at the the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics that he was concerned about the church's plans.

"Our downtown should not be comprised of a huge mall," he said, adding, "I've never liked the idea of relying upon enclosed malls for this project. . . . I'm concerned about an enclosed mall suddenly becoming the main focus of our downtown."

Ronald Pastore, who is organizing the downtown redevelopment for the LDS Church, had tried to alleviate those concerns, saying the development would be as open as possible.

Anderson was apparently convinced after his Thursday meeting.

City Council Vice Chairwoman Nancy Saxton said City Council members were given an update of the church's plans about three weeks ago. The plans were not concrete then and the church wanted to wait until its aims were more finalized before showing them to the mayor.

Thursday's meeting with the mayor means the church has secured its plans and may be ready to go public soon, Saxton hopes.