Main St. skybridge gets OK from Salt Lake Planning Commission

The proposed skybridge over Main Street has cleared another hurdle.

The Salt Lake City Planning Commission voted late Wednesday night to forward to the City Council a favorable recommendation of the design of City Creek Center's most controversial feature, as well as to allow for the lease of air rights over a portion of Main Street.

The 6-3 vote of the Planning Commission followed nearly four hours of discussion, public comment and debate on the skybridge, which developers have called a critical element of City Creek Center.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 25-acre, $1.5 billion downtown project also received unanimous planned development approval for the overall site plan and design of the project.

City Creek Reserve Inc., a development arm of the LDS Church, presented a slightly modified plan to the Planning Commission on Wednesday in an effort to address some of the concerns commissioners and city staff had expressed in previous meetings.

A major concern has been that the crosswalk on Main Street does not line up with the main entrance to City Creek Center and instead is located farther to the north. A straight-across alignment is not possible because of the TRAX station.

The project now calls for lighted sculptures — which CCRI officials called way-finders — at each end of the crosswalk across Main Street to better direct traffic to the crosswalk.

Escalators on each side of Main Street also have been realigned in the new plans to run north-south, allowing pedestrians to access the base of the skybridge on the second level, cross the bridge and then immediately return to street level if they choose to do so.

Previously, the escalators took patrons farther into the project, potentially taking people off Main Street. The escalators, though indoor, would be enclosed in glass, making sure pedestrians "never lose sight of Main Street," said Ron Loch, vice president of Taubman Co., CCRI's retail development partner on the project.

Some planning commissioners and critics of the skybridge who spoke during Wednesday's public hearing don't like the idea of it being enclosed. Developers argue that an enclosed skybridge ensures that patrons can easily access both sides of the project in any weather.

Kathleen Hill, who spent about a year researching skybridges while completing her master's degree in urban planning, said that argument isn't consistent with Utah traditions.

"This is a very hardy people," Hill said. "We had pioneers who crossed the plains, and we can't walk across the street? To say we need a skybridge to cross the street in the cold when it's an outdoor mall, that doesn't make sense to me."

Mary Young, who spoke in favor of the skybridge, countered with: "Yes, we're of a hardy heritage, but some of us are still wusses."

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