Tony SemeradThe city of South Salt Lake on Tuesday carried out its vow to rip out a fringe of cherished gardens and decades-old trees behind the backyards of residents along Salt Lake City’s Parkway Avenue.
One longtime resident, Barbara Leary, said tearfully she could not watch as public works crews from the suburban city destroyed her six mature fruit trees and removed a set of full garden boxes that her family cultivated for more than a generation.
Leary, 73, stood quietly at a side entrance to her small Parkway Avenue home as the excavators advanced, overcome by emotion and shaking her head while crews scrapped and leveled the area. A few other neighbors looked on dejectedly from their yards.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Residents stand in vacant space behind their homes on Salt Lake City's Parkway Avenue on Wednesday, July 1. Crews from South Salt Lake made good this week on warnings they would remove a series of gardens and trees behind the homes to secure the city-owned land.
Kids in the neighborhood later brought Leary an ice pop in hopes of consoling her and having a chat, their mom said.
“What a loss for our community,” resident Amy Beckler said of the spaces behind their homes.
Roughly 35 other affected homeowners were wary for months, following several warnings starting in April of the city’s intention to clear the land and build a new perimeter fence to secure the 8-acre space.
Officials with South Salt Lake say they are moving to protect the land as city infrastructure and gave residents ample notice that their structures and possessions spilling onto the property would be considered abandoned after July 1.
(Tony Semerad | The Salt Lake Tribune) Public works crews with South Salt Lake moved Tuesday to remove a series of gardens and trees behind homes along Parkway Avenue in Salt Lake City's Highland Park. The suburban city says it is securing a piece of property it owns behind the homes along that stretch.
A lone entrance to the vacant lot near 1300 East was the site of a morning standoff on July 6 between about 20 residents and the city’s public works crews. Salt Lake City police eventually arrived and defused the situation.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Though the long triangular-shaped piece of property just south of Interstate 80 and Sugar House Park falls squarely within the bounds of Utah’s capital city, South Salt Lake has owned the spot since 1980 and kept it largely empty.
(Tony Semerad | Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City police officers work to diffuse a July 6 standoff between public works crews from South Salt Lake and residents of Parkway Avenue over the suburban city's plans to cut down trees and build a fence behind their homes.
Parkway Avenue residents say they’ve long had access to the vacant lot and watered and cultivated a slight edge abutting their back fence lines, while also keeping its grass mowed for fire protection.
They say the city has been largely unresponsive to their questions about the future of the area that was once part of Sugar House Park.
Many of the residents say they don’t trust South Salt Lake to keep the area cleared now that it will be closed off, and that they remain fearful the fence will hamper efforts to mitigate fire danger adjacent to their homes.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Barbara Leary waters the garden behind her home of 61 years on Wednesday, July 1, 2026.
Officials with South Salt Lake are vowing to step up the city’s regular maintenance of the property with that in mind.
A spokesperson for South Salt Lake has said the city ultimately intends to hire a contractor to build the perimeter fence and that it will comply with Salt Lake City’s process for securing a building permit for the structure.
