'Monster home' tiff deemed divisive

The latest incarnation of Salt Lake's monster-home battles has hit more than a few nerves in the Wasatch Hollow neighborhood, leading to an assessment from the mayor's office that "the community has been divided along religious lines."

Annette Daley, a community-affairs analyst who works for Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, wrote to him recently about Wasatch Hollow's process in developing its own monster-home ordinance, including a May 25 vote where the neighborhood supported restrictions on renovations and new homes by more than a 2-to-1 margin.

"Since the May election, I have fielded many phone calls, attended one Saturday morning meeting, and even stayed after the (community council) meeting on June 28 until 10:30 p.m. listening to neighbors' concerns," Daley wrote. "It is my opinion that as a result of this vote, the community has been divided along religious lines."

Residents voted in May after months of debate to support maximum 26-foot roof heights, 16 1/2-foot wall heights, and garages that are either in line or behind the line of the house facade.

Daley refused to answer questions in person about her "religious lines" comment, deferring instead to Anderson's spokesman, Patrick Thronson. He did not respond to e-mail and phone inquiries Tuesday. Anderson and Thronson have declined the newspaper's requests for comment for the past 35 days.

Other members of the community, however, said that the reference to religious division may have come from comments by neighbors that residents who need large houses for many children should look to suburbs for extra space rather than trying to squeeze renovations out of one-story bungalows and cottages. Some families with children, however, took offense at what they saw as anti-Mormon jabs against large families.

Jill Remington Love, a City Council member who represents part of the area, said the religious-division comments were part of a larger discussion about how to balance preservation with space for growing families.

"We want to preserve those bungalows, the look and the feel and charm of those neighborhoods," Love said. But, "we want families living in those bungalows, and we want our schools full. Finding that balance has been difficult, and there has been such great participation in this process that at times there have been comments made that have been hurtful or offensive."