Foes assail skybridge; S.L. delays any action

Plans for a pedestrian skybridge above Main Street received less-than-glowing reviews from the public and no direction from the Salt Lake City Council on Tuesday.

A public hearing on whether the City Council should amend a pair of downtown planning documents to allow for skywalks in certain situations began Tuesday night and was continued until the council's April 3 meeting.

Four of the five people who spoke at the public hearing said they oppose plans by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to build a skybridge above Main Street as part of its City Creek Center mixed-use development.

"We can't do something that benefits one landowner, that being The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the exclusion of the rest of the downtown area," said John Renteria, director of Centro Civico Mexicano.

The skybridge is part of a proposal by Taubman Centers Inc., which is working with the LDS Church to renovate two downtown blocks into a planned 20-acre retail, residential and office complex. Taubman officials see a second-level skywalk connecting shopping centers on each side of Main Street as vital to the success of City Creek Center.

Critics of the plan, including Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, say channeling people from one section of the City Creek Center to another through a skywalk essentially would trap shoppers in the complex and keep them from visiting street-level shops and restaurants and other downtown retail areas. Others are worried about a skywalk's potential to block views from Main Street.

"I'm very concerned about fairness," said Cindy Cromer, a community activist. "Location is everything if you're a small-business person. Some changes can be devastating for a small-business person."

Tom DeVroom, the only member of the public to speak in favor of the skybridge, said he believes it would be an asset to the city and make pedestrian travel safer.

"Not having (a skybridge on North Temple) by the LDS Conference Center has been a burden to pedestrians and traffic," DeVroom said.

A 1990 master plan and a 1995 urban design document call for the city to prevent walkways that keep pedestrians off city streets and block views. Main Street, with its view of Ensign Peak, is specifically named in the planning documents.

Amendments to the planning documents proposed by the Planning Commission and a council subcommittee would allow for skywalks, but only if developers can show that there is no viable street-level alternative, and that pedestrian activity and view corridors would be protected.

At the request of Property Reserve Inc., the real estate arm of the LDS Church, the bulk of public comment will be heard at the City Council's April 3 meeting, which also will include a presentation on the project. A vote on the amendments is expected at the meeting.

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Contributing: Doug Smeath

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E-mail: jpage@desnews.com