U. keeping 'options open' with This Is the Place lease

After public uproar over a plan to lease land from This Is the Place Heritage Park, University of Utah officials said today that they are keeping their options open.

This Is the Place Heritage Park wants to lease 12 acres of its land to Associated Regional and University Pathologists (ARUP) for an administrative building and parking lot. The 50-year lease would bring in a much-needed $400,000 a year to the park.

U. President Mike Young said Friday that the university plans to listen to the community.

"If it would be useful for the community for us to do it on that property, to help provide some financial assistance to keep the park more vibrant and alive, but on the other hand if the community objects to it, we don't really have a dog in that fight," he said.

Young added the university is waiting until the Division of State Parks and Recreation board votes on whether This Is the Place Heritage Park can actually lease the land.

"If the consensus in the community is they would prefer the park would remain undeveloped, I don't think we would want to intrude on those kinds of decisions," he said, adding the university has always kept its options open in pursuing the land.

However, Ellis Ivory, chairman of the This Is the Place Foundation board, and David Jackson, senior vice president of strategic services at ARUP, said the lease idea is still very much alive.

"This is an issue with Heritage Park and the state's park (board) and if the land is available, we're still interested. The university has directed us to still be interested," Jackson said. ARUP is an enterprise of the U.

After park leaders brought up the lease idea in September, many East Bench residents voiced concerns about losing open space to a commercial development. Donors to the heritage park, including Jazz owner Larry H. Miller, have also criticized the plan.

The board of the living-history site recommended last month that the land be leased to ARUP for an administrative building.

But in late March, East Bench residents spoke to university officials at a community forum meeting and asked U. leaders to reconsider.

Meanwhile, the Salt Lake City Council is planning to vote Tuesday on a joint resolution with Mayor Rocky Anderson opposing the lease.

On top of that, more than 850 people have signed an online petition at savetheplace.net, opposing the plans. The group, run by a former park curator, aims to send the signatures to the governor and other state leaders.

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