Main Street Plaza timeline

• April 13, 1999 — The Salt Lake City Council votes to sell a block of Main Street between North Temple and South Temple to the LDS Church for $8.1 million to create a pedestrian plaza. The deal retains a public-access easement on the property but sets restrictions on speech and conduct.

• Nov. 16, 1999 — The ACLU files suit against the sale saying the speech restrictions on a public-access easement violate the First Amendment.

• Oct. 9, 2002 — The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver sides with the ACLU and forbids the city from allowing the church to enforce free-speech limitations on the plaza.

• Dec. 16, 2002 — Mayor Rocky Anderson offers a solution to the divisive issue: the city will give up its easement in exchange for 2.1 acres of church-owned land in Glendale, where a community center is to be built.

• June 10, 2003 — The City Council approves Anderson's community center deal.

• Aug. 7, 2003 — The ACLU files a second suit alleging the city's deal violates the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which calls for separation between church and state.

• May 3, 2004 — U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Kimball dismisses the ACLU's second plaza suit. The ACLU says an appeal is likely.