From Deseret News archives:
Mega-development dies
The mayor is planning a fishing trip after the city's funding plan for a lucrative Real Salt Lake soccer stadium was shot down Tuesday. Dolan had worked for over a year trying to secure the project. He now is waving goodbye to a massive Gateway-esque, super-development that would have gone with it.
Sandy had hoped the 136-acre parcel where the 42-acre soccer stadium project would sit could have been a $650 million mixed-use project, one that Dolan called the biggest economic development project in Utah. The stadium was the linchpin for the larger project. But the Salt Lake County Council denied funding for the stadium in a 5-4 vote on Tuesday.
The ring tone on Dolan's cell phone, which rang mid-way through the county meeting, eerily highlighted the tone of Tuesday's outcome. His song? "I Can't Get No Satisfaction."
"It was the catalyst for that development, with the investors Real brought in with the stadium," he said in an interview after the meeting. "I believe the property will develop in future years, but it certainly won't be as intense and valuable as the project currently is."
"As far as I'm concerned, it's over," he added.
Real still owns that property and it's unknown what the team will do with it.
The calls may also slow down at the Sandy Chamber of Commerce. Chamber President Nancy Workman said businesses were calling regularly when Sandy was picked as the site for Real, hoping to locate in the Utah city with a Major League team. They slowed down considerably after Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon in May denied another funding plan that had been proposed by Real.
A soccer stadium "would have brought in businesses," Workman said.
But she remained optimistic. "We'll take a slight jolt, but it's not like a death-dealing jolt," she said. "It's just a blip."
Sandy city officials, Dolan said, will now plunge into the 52 major projects going on throughout the city, like the development of a gravel pit and an expansion of South Towne Mall.
Another step for Dolan is going to the Legislature.
Upset over the amount of Sandy restaurant, auto and hotel taxes that currently go to Salt Lake County projects, Dolan hopes to lobby legislators this session to keep the those taxes within city boundaries. That way, Sandy can use the money for city-specific projects. He feels Sandy is given the short end of the stick because county decisions tend to favor the capital city.
"The millions of dollars we contribute each year, we receive nothing," he said. Sandy's restaurant, auto and hotel-tax revenues amount to about $4 million a year. "It all seems to flow to Salt Lake City."
House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said he likes the idea.
"Rather than ending up pitting cities against cities, you just say leave the tax where it is collected," he said. "The other cities that collect some of the tax would have a voice, where as now they kind of get shut out of the process."
E-mail: astowell@desnews.com
