Tag Archives: zoning

Affordable Housing Development at 750 W. South Temple

A representative of the Vecino Group will attend the next community council
meeting (April 28, 6:30, Northwest Community Center, 1255 Clark Ave) to talk about their project at 750 W. South Temple (just outside our border in Poplar Grove) and answer questions of those in attendance may have. This visit is for informational purposes only as this development has passed the form based
zoning for the City and the City Council voted 4-3 to allow Salt Lake County Housing
Authority to build this structure in Salt Lake City.

The project planned is called Bodhi and will be a five-story building
including 80 units of one and two-bedroom apartments. 60 of the 80 units will be
held for those making 50% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI). 50% of the
area median income for Salt Lake County is $36,100 for a family of 4. Of those 60
units, there will be 5 set aside for the chronically homeless, 9 units for the severely
and persistently mentally ill, and 9 units for those with a long-term mobility
disability. There will be full-time onsite services provided by the Salt Lake
Community Action Program.

This $12 million development is a partnership between the Vecino Group
and the Salt Lake County Housing Authority, and is being funded by Federal Low
Income Housing Tax Credits and $1 million from the Olene Walker Housing Trust
The Fairpark Community Council Executive Committee has been meeting
with stakeholders ever since we first heard about this development. Though we
welcome the higher densities that the Transit Station Area zoning provides along
the TRAX line, we are worried by the concentration of affordable units in this
development and along the TRAX corridor, and will continue to work with our city
council members to ensure that further developments along North Temple do not
have such a high proportion of affordable units.

Zoning Terms Primer

There is a lot of discussion about zoning, but what does it all mean?

Housing terms are often referred to in our discussions and presentations about housing: Affordable housing, Subsidized housing and Market rate housing. Here you can learn about things such as what “cost burdened” means, the percentage of Salt Lake residents who are cost burdened, how vouchers work, and what market value is.

Affordable housing: Families who pay more than 30 percent of their incomes for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care. An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more than 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing. A family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the US. In Salt Lake City, 50% of our renters are cost burdened and 25% of our renters are severely cost burdened (meaning they pay more than 50% of their income on rent).

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29th Ward House Future Remains On Hold

Will Proposed Changes to Zoning Ordinances Increase Potential Construction Density of Historic Property? At the Fairpark Community Council’s December Meeting, the City’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Division provided some information on its request to rezone the property at 1102 West 400 North, the old, vacant, 29th LDS Ward House from low-density residential (R-1/7000) to higher density mixed residential and commercial use (R-MU-35). The property is owned by the City.

In the presentation, division director, Mike Ackerlow, explained that the rezoning request was to allow the City to secure resources to rehabilitate the 100-year old church so that it could be used for housing or some sort public or private commercial use. The City also wants build housing; i.e., small houses or apartment/condo units on other sections of the .80 acre property. Comment from residents at
the meeting would be used to help develop the final plans for the property that the division hoped to present to the Community Council in January.

In January, the Planning Division contacted the Fairpark CC to explain the City needed more time to final its plans.

Then, interestingly, at its January 28th meeting the Salt Lake City Planning Commission approved changes to the R-MU-35 zoning designation that allows greater building density by, among other things, decreasing the minimum
size for lots and decreasing minimal “set-backs” from lot boundary-lines.

The proposed changes to the R-MU-35 zoning designation still have to be approved by the City Council before they can go into effect. Whether the City is waiting for
the amended zoning designation before finalizing its plans remains to be seen. Regardless, the issue facing the Fairpark Community Council is whether it will support rezoning proposal for the 29th Ward property as the City’s petition goes before the Planning Commission and, ultimately, the City Council.

For more information visit fairparkcommunity.org

29th Ward Building Rezone Hearing Postponed

At last month’s Council meeting (Dec. 4^th) the City’s Planning and Housing and Neighborhood (HAND) Divisions began its presentation on the proposal to change the zoning designation of 29^th LDS Ward House with the announcement that City staff was not seeking Community Council action that evening because they wanted to return in January with more concrete plans for the property.

Several days ago, the Planning Division notified the Fairpark Community Council that the City is not prepared to continue its presentation this month, that “more time is needed to develop plans for the site. The petition will not go before the Planning Commission until the revised plans have been presented at a future Fairpark Community Council meeting.”

Currently, the 29^th Ward property, a .80 acre lot at 1102 West 400 North, is zoned R-1/7000, as is most of the Fairpark Community – single residences on lots no smaller that 7000 square feet. The City wants to rezone the old building and property as R-MU-35 – a residential area that allows 30 units per acre, plus the possibility that some lots can be used for commercial purposes.

For a hundred years, the old 29^th LDS Ward House has been an iconic structure in what is now known as the Fairpark Community. In the 1980s, the LDS Church donated the building to Salt Lake City to be used to house various programs serving the City’s refugee population. Unfortunately, a fire in 1983 gutted part of the building’s interior, creating a serious challenge maintaining the building’s usefulness. And, since the early 1990s, the building has been vacant – boarded up and an eyesore for the community. (See the article on the history of this building here.).

In the initial letter from the Mayor’s Office to the Planning Commission requesting the the zoning change, the administration emphasized its philosophy of making “adaptive” reuse of historic buildings in the City. In this regard, the City has applied to have the old 29^th Ward House listed in the National Historical Registry. The building is already listed on the City’s registry of significant historical and cultural landmarks; but the federal designation will make the building eligible for tax credits and other resources for repair and restoration efforts.

But in the initial presentation by Michael Akerlow, Director of the City’s Housing and Neighbor Development Division, at the Fairpark Council’s December meeting, the City’s goal of creating more “diverse and affordable” was emphasized. In the evening’s discussion, the City was unwilling to commit to any specific plan, however the idea of building new residential units on the parking lot north of the building and creating residential units in the old building was raised.

It seemed that the City’s position is that, without federal money/tax-credits to cover part of the cost for the rehab of the old church along with the revenue new housing units from the construction of new residences (condos or apartments) to help pay for the rehab of the church , the property will not be attractive to developers.

The old 29^th LDS Ward House is both a treasure and scourge. In its dilapidated state today, it reflects negatively on the larger community. On the other hand, its basic structure, a hundred years old, is attractive as an icon of this community’s history.

For decades, residents of what is now the Fairpark Community have fought, via Master Plans and Zoning Maps, to the protect the residential nature of our neighborhoods. With the City’s proposal to change the zoning designation of the 29^th Ward Building, the community is confronted with a choice: allow high density development to restore a historic building or allow the property to continue to deteriorate.