Rocky calls rally to protest plan for housing on North S.L. bench

An open space dispute between Salt Lake City and North Salt Lake, a neighboring Davis County community, had been a discreet series of discussions between city councils — but that's changing.

Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson has scheduled a rally for Salt Lake residents Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at Library Square. His staff is advertising the event with a postcard showing two scenes: an idyllic swath of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail juxtaposed against the crooked arm of a backhoe silhouetted against mounds of dirt.

An admonition on the postcard warns not to allow North Salt Lake to destroy the shoreline trail, with the parting phrase, "If you believe in protecting open space it is crucial that you attend this short event."

The postcard has already raised eyebrows with North Salt Lake politicians, who are weary of potshots from the outspoken Anderson.

North Salt Lake Councilman Lynn Ballard said Anderson is playing politics, and Councilman Conrad Jacobsen said there has not been much effort from Salt Lake City to involve North Salt Lake officials. Mayor Kay Briggs said in an earlier interview that Salt Lake City council members are "posturing" for upcoming elections.

North Salt Lake owns most of the 100 acres of open space on a bench that straddles the border between the two cities, and wants to sell it for houses and developed open space — constructed trails and parks. The land is officially located within Salt Lake City; the city council declined a recent request from North Salt Lake to disconnect the land. The Salt Lake council changed zoning for the area to natural open space. Members of both city councils have said they prefer negotiation over a court battle, which others in North Salt Lake see as inevitable.

"We're probably headed for court on this," Ballard said. Briggs "really wanted to negotiate with the city council in Salt Lake. All five of us (on North Salt Lake's council) want to be fair and equitable, but we don't want to be shafted by Salt Lake City."

Wednesday's rally is simply for residents who are concerned about open space to voice their opinions, said Deeda Seed, Anderson's spokeswoman. "The leaders of North Salt Lake have had a sort of enormous responsibility on their hands and, in the view of some of us, a moral judgment to make," she said. "For a quick dollar, we're forever losing a pristine piece of open space."

North Salt Lake wants to develop 30 acres on the bench with 20 for housing and 10 for a cemetery. Selling the land to developers would gross the city between $4.5 million and $6 million. Foothills elsewhere in North Salt Lake have already been developed with curved roads leading to large homes with expansive views of the Great Salt Lake.

Part of the Bonneville Shoreline trail, which is popular with hikers, bikers and skiers, crosses the property in dispute.

"I understand that much of the development has been for the benefit of many," said Dale Lambert, chairman of the Salt Lake City Council. "We don't like picking fights with our neighbor sister city, but in my view, this was a place to draw the line and say, 'No, this is valuable open space land.' "

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