North Temple owners balking at fees

SALT LAKE CITY — The grandeur of the new, North Temple "Gateway to the City" could fall somewhat shy of its envisioned opulence if protest submissions, currently under review by the city, show property owners aren't willing to chip in on the project.

The Special Assessment Area proposal, which applies to North Temple property owners from 500 West to 2400 West, looks to levy about $2.3 million of the $27.3 million in city improvement costs on those whose property fronts North Temple. The fees for lighting improvements, landscaping, colored concrete and other amenities along the new TRAX airport route, along with maintenance, rings in at $110 per foot of frontage property. That's a downsizing of an original fee structure that would have assessed $200 per foot for improvements and maintenance costs — a number that didn't sit well with many owners, including Darrin Menlove, whose family owns property that occupies about 1,600 feet of North Temple in the assessment area.

"When we heard the first number, we were strongly opposed to it," Menlove said. "It would have cost us in excess of $300,000. Now, with the adjustment, we are in complete support … even though it's still going to be a couple of hundred thousand."

Menlove said he sees the fee as an investment share in an improvement opportunity that might never be seen again by his family and others who own land along North Temple.

"This is the kind of project that will fundamentally change this street in positive ways," Menlove said. "While we have near term challenges, with the viaduct removal and the construction, long-term this certainly increases the value of our property, and everyone else's."

Menlove's sentiment, however, is not universal among his neighbors. He said he's spoken with a number of other property and business owners who see the fee, even at a reduced rate, as far too onerous, especially in light of a continuing sluggish economy and a reduction in business due to the construction.

Supporters of the improvement plan, and the attached fee, could be trumped if owners representing more than 50 percent of the approximately 22,000 lineal feet of North Temple frontage logged a protest against the assessment area by a deadline that passed on July 13. The list of those in opposition is currently being vetted by Salt Lake City officials. Some questions have been raised by proponents of the plan that there are "anomalies" with some of the protest documents, which included petitions that were circulated by North Temple owners who are opposed to the assessment fees.