Shop owners are wary of plans

The shops that line Highland Drive between 2100 South and Sugarmont Drive in Sugar House are a mishmash of local businesses peddling a variety of products, cobbled together under a series of awnings.

The street is rare in Salt Lake City, with only a few other districts like it — 900 South and 900 East, 1500 South and 1500 East and 300 South downtown, for instance. It draws crowds of pedestrians who stroll between window fronts examining T-shirts, stickers, coffee menus, lingerie and furniture.

The collection of small local retailers and the old buildings in which they operate could be in jeopardy, though, to future redevelopment of what's known informally as the Granite Furniture block, the land bordered by 2100 South, Highland Drive, Sugarmont Drive and McClelland Street.

The Salt Lake City Council voted last December to change zoning on the block to allow between seven and eight stories. That vote alone doesn't endanger the businesses, but Councilman Soren Simonsen, who lives in Sugar House and joined the council in January after the vote, thinks that the zoning doesn't do much to protect the old buildings and small retailers who may be passed over if the property owners decide to redevelop their block.

Four major landowners on the block are in early talks about redeveloping the block, and no one in city government or in the Sugar House community council has seen official plans. Craig Mecham, one of the four landlords, said no one has seen plans yet because there are no plans to see.

The conflict, as Simonsen sees it, is that pressure on Mecham and other property owners to redevelop at higher density and earn more money doesn't leave much room for historic preservation and local tenants.

"The Sugar House master plan from 2001 has a significant goal of historic preservation both of neighborhoods and business district," Simonsen said. "There is no provision in the current zoning ordinance that ether provides an incentive or any kind of policy with regard to historic preservation."

He also believes that preserving some of the area's older buildings might leave more room for tenants who couldn't afford high-priced rents in a brand-new building.

Kirk Huffaker, the interim executive director of the Utah Heritage Foundation, said that balancing property rights with the dual goals of preservation and promoting local businesses will be a trial for Simonsen and the rest of the City Council.