Nordstrom move doubtful

City Council members and other insiders involved with the issue appear resigned that The Gateway will not be rezoned to make way for Nordstrom to move there from Crossroads Plaza.

Some of those same people are also say that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' stand against the rezone and its plans to redevelop Crossroads mall has influenced some council members' decisions.

While council members and other insiders aren't willing to say much publicly before the City Council votes on Boyer's rezone petition tonight, a few council members, who previously shied from predicting how the vote would go, now expect the vote will come down decisively against Boyer and the zoning change.

"I think there's a fair chance it won't pass," said council Chairman Carlton Christensen, who has opposed the rezone all along and also works for the LDS Church's property manager Zions Securities.

Christensen, who said he's trying not to count his chickens before they're hatched, and Councilwoman Nancy Saxton, have said publicly that they don't support Boyer's petition to change the zoning rule that precludes Nordstrom from moving to The Gateway.

Councilman Van Turner said the LDS Church's plans to redevelop Crossroads Plaza and neighboring ZCMI Center malls on Main Street seemed to have altered public opinion against the rezone.

"When the general population saw (the church's plans), it changed the dynamics of this thing quite a bit," he said.

Other insiders who have lobbied the City Council to change the zoning agree that the church's plans and lobbying efforts seem to have swayed public opinion including opinions on the council.

"We don't have the votes," lamented one source close to Boyer Co. and Nordstrom.

Last week the LDS Church announced plans to spend "hundreds of millions" of dollars to revamp the two malls and create high-rise housing nearby. Church leaders have lobbied the council not to change The Gateway zoning, saying allowing large-scale department stores at Gateway could cripple its redevelopment plans.

A Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll conducted before the announcement showed residents split over the proposed zoning change.

Alan Sullivan, an attorney representing the LDS Church, has denied the announcement was timed to influence the council's vote.