2 Sugar House projects vying for Salt Lake City's OK

The problem, Petheram says, is that the city's zoning ordinance does not reflect or implement the goals of the master plan.

That's also been a battle cry from Soren Simonsen, who represents Sugar House on the Salt Lake City Council. In November, Simonsen brought forward a resolution calling for a reaffirmation of the goals, policies and recommendations of the Sugar House Community Master Plan, encouraging the preservation of historic buildings.

The resolution was discussed during a work session Nov. 13, though no action was taken. Simonsen said he hopes the council will revisit the issue soon.

"There are so many inconsistencies between the zoning ordinance and the master plan," he said. "There are very strongly worded goals in the master plan that talk about doing historical surveys, creating a conservation or a historic district, preserving key commercial buildings that are structurally sound. None of those things appear anywhere in the zoning ordinance."

Simonsen's opinion is in the minority among his council peers. Dave Buhler and Jill Remington Love both said they've recently reread the master plan and disagree with Simonsen's assessment.

Buhler said he believes the Mecham group is "following everything both in the zoning ordinance and the master plan."

"Nowhere in the master plan does it say, 'Never tear anything down,'" he said. "To listen to some people, you'd think that was what it says."

"We have both the master plan and the zoning ordinance," Love said, "and I don't see any inconsistency."

The section of the master plan that deals with historic preservation mainly focuses on residential structures, she said. With respect to the business district, it's pointed out in the document that only a handful of buildings are considered to be historically significant or contributing structures, Love said.

Simonsen argues that at least one of the buildings proposed to be demolished should be listed on the National Register of Historic Places but isn't because the property owner, Mecham, didn't accept the nomination.

The building that until last week housed the Blue Boutique twice has been nominated for the National Register, he said, and has been called the most significant commercial building still standing in Sugar House.

Russ Callister of Mecham Investments said the developer has applied for a demolition permit, which the city is obligated by ordinance to issue. Callister declined to respond to residents' allegations that the master plan is being disregarded, saying only that "the scale and massing of those buildings are what they are. The master plan deals with that pretty specifically."

Both development projects still must go before the Planning Commission for approval. Mecham Investments has submitted to the city a reuse plan that will allow it to begin demolition as soon as abatement of asbestos and the removal of any other hazardous materials are completed. Construction is expected to take about two years.

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