SLC Council shifts its focus from the Green Loop’s western edge to another section

Two separate plans that could change how Salt Lake City residents get their fresh air are in motion.

On Tuesday evening, the Salt Lake City Council received a presentation on the core elements of the Emerald Ribbon Action Plan, which lays out how officials can improve the Jordan River corridor on the city’s west side.

Council members also signaled their interest in redirecting funding previously set aside for the western edge of the proposed Green Loop to a different stretch on 200 East. The project, a key promise of Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s 2023 campaign for a second term, would run clockwise along 200 West, 900 South, 500 West and either North or South Temple.

“We will ensure this funding complements the prior funding the council has allocated,” said Blake Thomas, the mayor’s real estate and capital projects adviser, “... in hopes of creating a transit-oriented, best-in-class focal point that enhances the existing events and activations on the block and provides an urban respite for the current and new individuals and families that are making downtown their home.”

Mendenhall’s Green Loop, which would encircle downtown with a strip of park amenities in place of some of the city’s underused car lanes, faced questions from council members over its timing and vision last summer. Some of those worries are directly related to concerns over how the city’s Public Lands Department manages existing green spaces, especially along the Jordan River.

Both the Green Loop and Emerald Ribbon Action Plan, if fully implemented, promise to create new active outdoor spaces for residents to enjoy, adding greenery to both sides of the city.

Redirecting Green Loop spending

The loop would bring new park space to growing downtown. It would also include flexible public spaces and multiuse paths. Officials estimate the full construction of the project would cost between $250 million and $350 million.

Last summer, the City Council approved $3 million in funding for designing a section of the loop on 500 West between 500 South and 900 South.

On Tuesday, however, council members said they wanted to divert much of that money to help officials finalize construction blueprints for a part of the loop that would start in front of City Hall on 200 East and stretch a block north. Council members also said they wanted to scale back, though not eliminate, design funding for 500 West, and directed city staff to draw up guidelines for managing and building the new park.

“It’s time to move forward to get a more concrete plan that we then have the opportunity to give input to,” council member Sarah Young said, “and to be able to have a conversation about future resourcing and construction needs.”

The action shows the city is refocusing its efforts on 200 East — where a pop-up event in 2023 showed how the project could reform the wide street — and away from 500 West, where it hosted a similar demonstration last September.

Council member Dan Dugan, who represents a swath of the city’s east side, asked staff to keep other projects, like the Rio Grande Plan to bury the existing railroad tracks along 500 West, in mind as they complete conceptual designs for the western edge of the loop.

“We’ve got to make sure that we’re not hamstringing future big projects because we’re going bold ...,” Dugan said. “So, we need to do it and we also need to make sure that we’re communicating with everyone else across the board.”

Thomas, the city’s capital projects adviser, told council members that he intends to bring a request for funding to build the so-called Civic Campus section of the loop along 200 East — it would link Washington Square to the west and Library Square to the east — to the panel later this year.

New life for the Jordan River

Council members also received a presentation on the Public Lands Department’s Emerald Ribbon plan that looks to breathe new life into the Jordan River corridor to the tune of $65 million.

The plan proposes boosting the natural character of the river by restoring more land along its banks and creating more spaces in the corridor for community events. It also outlines specific areas along the river where improvements could achieve those goals.

Parks officials want to create new natural areas on both ends of the city’s riverfront. In Glendale, the plan encourages the development of new wetland habitat — and wildlife viewpoints for people walking by — at the river’s bend just north of 2100 South. At the northern end, the document calls for replacing the Rose Park Golf Course’s driving range with natural floodplain and walking paths.

Projects at Cottonwood Park, Modesto Park and between Fisher Mansion and North Temple would be more focused on making those places along the trail more active with programming. Both Cottonwood and Modesto parks would get flexible “community porches” with new outdoor classrooms, pavilions and public art.

At Fisher Mansion and the Gadsby Trailhead on North Temple, the plan calls for adding picnic tables and allowing vendors to set up shop. Between those two locations, where the Jordan River Trail runs through the soon-to-be-developed Power District, the city would aim to build a path on the waterway’s west bank — an idea that’s echoed in renderings for the Major League Baseball stadium being pursued by the Larry H. Miller Co.

During the presentation Thursday, city parks planner Makaylah Maponga told council members the department plans to kick off construction and restoration in some parts of the corridor this year.

“I love the vision. It’s a great way to activate this area,” Dugan said. “This is going to be awesome.”

While the plan still needs the council’s final nod, parks officials say residents should expect to see some improvements, including habitat restoration and safety projects, completed by 2028.