The Salt Lake City Planning Commission late Wednesday pushed a proposed skybridge over Main Street one step closer to approval.

After five hours of hashing out the pros and cons of a skybridge and hearing from a dozen residents — about evenly split between support for and opposition to the bridge — commissioners voted 6-1 to recommend amending the downtown master plan to make allowances for a skybridge.

The skybridge is part of a proposal by Taubman Centers Inc., working with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to renovate two downtown blocks into a 20-acre retail, residential and office complex known as City Creek Center.

Taubman officials have said the second-story cross-street walkway is vital to making the project successful, the most efficient way of channeling shoppers past upper- and lower-level shops.

But two downtown planning documents — a 1990 master plan and a 1995 urban-design document — are at odds with the skybridge. They call for the city to prevent walkways that would keep pedestrians off city streets and would block views.

Main Street, with its view of Ensign Peak, is specifically named in the documents.

The amendment approved Wednesday allows exceptions when no other alternatives are feasible and precautions have been taken to protect views and street-level commercial activity. It gives the city final design approval of any skywalks.

Taubman officials say the skybridge would not discourage activity on Main Street. Shops and restaurants will front both sides of Main, drawing pedestrians up and down the street before they cross to the other side.

Without a skybridge, it would be hard for second-story retailers to survive, Taubman vice president Ron Loch said Wednesday.

Salt Lake Chamber president Lane Beattie said the draw of the new shopping center — "the opportunity to bring more people into downtown than we ever have" — will enliven Main Street.

And a skybridge can be designed in such a way that it frames the view of Ensign Peak rather than obstructing it, the developers say. They have shown commissioners photographs from different vantage points on Main Street with a mostly glass skybridge superimposed and the peak still visible.

Mayor Rocky Anderson has been an adamant opponent of the skybridge, though earlier this week he said he has "softened" that stance recently. Still, he wants the commission and council to hold off on making decisions until a more involved public process can play out.

But the church's representatives Wednesday handed out a list of 60 print, radio and TV news stories detailing different aspects of the City Creek Center plan and public meetings at which the developers have presented elements of the plan.

Many of those reports and presentations have dealt with subjects other than the skybridge.

The church provided a summary of the online public comment process, which has brought in 980 comments on the development plans. Only 42 comments have opposed the skybridge, according to the church's numbers.

The city's planning division has recommended the commission approve the plan amendments, though deputy director Doug Wheelwright said the staff has taken no position on the City Creek skybridge specifically.

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