The LDS Church wants to partially close four downtown streets for new and expanded median ramps that will access underground parking for the City Creek Center development.

City Creek Reserve Inc., a new division of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' real-estate arm, Property Reserve Inc., wants to construct a new median ramp on South Temple between State and Main streets and expand the existing median ramps on West Temple and 100 South.

CCRI also wants to extend the underground pedestrian walkway at Social Hall Avenue to connect to underground parking for the City Creek development, an indoor-outdoor mix of retail, residential and office space.

To do that, the developer needs the Salt Lake City Council's permission to purchase subsurface property rights from the city.

"We're not going to close any streets, not in the sense that you and I normally think of (road closures)," CCRI legal counsel Alan Sullivan told the City Council during a work session Tuesday. "We're applying for subsurface rights."

CCRI already owns portions of the area of the proposed median ramps and expansions but still needs to purchase the subsurface rights for the area, said Bill Williams, CCRI's director of architecture.

"The city would still own the street," Williams said. "We would just own a portion of that area underneath the street."

Williams said the cost of those subsurface rights has not been determined. An appraisal will be done to make sure the city gets fair market value for those subsurface rights, said Joel Patterson, city planning programs supervisor.

A public hearing on the issue is scheduled for Sept. 18; the City Council also could vote on the partial closures that night.

The new parking ramp on South Temple would be built in the middle of the street with a westbound entrance and exit, providing access to underground parking at the City Creek Center and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

On West Temple, the existing exit ramp that served the Crossroads Plaza parking garage would be widened to the east to allow northbound traffic to enter a new underground parking area. That would require northbound lanes on West Temple to be reduced from three to two lanes in the area of the widened ramp. The street would widen again to three lanes before intersecting with South Temple.

Proposed expansions for 100 South call for the ramp to remain within its existing footprint but be modified underground for more-efficient traffic flow.

An extension of the underground walkway that linked the ZCMI Center with Social Hall would allow pedestrians to enter parking garages on the north and south sides of Social Hall Avenue.

City staff said none of the partial closures would conflict with UTA light-rail lines.

The Planning Commission unanimously voted in November to recommended the partial closures.

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