54% want parking garage

Most Utahns want a new state Capitol parking garage, which is now under construction despite an effort to put it on hold at least temporarily.

A new Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll by Dan Jones & Associates found that 54 percent of Utahns surveyed favored building the controversial parking lot, while 36 percent opposed the nearly $11 million structure.

The poll of 420 Utahns statewide, taken Aug. 15-17, has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent. That means that support for the underground lot for state employees could actually fall below 50 percent.

"I think the public, relatively speaking, is pretty close to where the Legislature was at," said House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, who earlier this month called for the project to be delayed until lawmakers meet again in January.

Even though the project narrowly won approval during a special session of the Legislature in May, Curtis said he feared financial fallout that would affect needed funding for the ongoing renovation of the Capitol.

Lawmakers have been criticized for approving the garage at the same time they rejected Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s proposal to set aside $2 million to pay for emergency dental care for the poor and disabled.

During the special session, they did not appropriate the $15 million needed for the garage and another parking project on the grounds. Instead, they authorized using funds already allocated to the $200 million-plus Capitol renovation set for completion late next year.

So, lawmakers still have to come up with $15 million next session to finish the renovation, which includes earthquake-proofing the historic domed building as well as major restoration work.

Curtis said the votes may not be there when the 2007 Legislature convenes in mid-January. "This has a very realistic potential of being an issue," the speaker said. "Let's make sure we're ready to deal with it."

But Curtis' fellow members of the Capitol Preservation Board aren't interested in calling a special meeting to consider his request, according to board spokeswoman Allyson Gamble.

Work has not stopped — or even slowed — on the garage. "There's no delays. We are going as previously thought, on schedule," Gamble said.

The site is being readied for excavation early next month for the multi-level structure.

Other legislative leaders who sit on the board said it made economic sense to go forward now with the parking project, which will provide some 250 parking places for employees and free up another lot for public use once it's modified.

"The reason we did it during a special session rather than waiting was because we could complete the parking garage (and the other lot) by the time the Capitol reopens," House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, said.

Plus, Becker said work started on the garage within two weeks of the special session. Suspending the project months later "would have cost the state money," the minority leader said. "It never made sense."

But Curtis said the Capitol will be competing with many other building projects next session, and could face a $15 million shortfall. "I think it's naive," he said, "to sit there and believe this issue is done and gone away."

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