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SALT LAKE CITY — The old city block used to store Salt Lake City's vehicles had predominantly remained a city eyesore, generally abandoned for almost a decade, when it became the focus of a proposed development center in 2019.
Its importance quickly changed a year later in a way city leaders and planners couldn't have imagined.
The 8.75-acre section of the city between 800 South and 900 South, and 300 West and 400 West — dubbed "Fleet Block" — became the center of social injustice protests and community expression following the police killing of Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal, which happened in the area. While the shooting was later ruled legally justified, large murals depicting those who died in police incidents have donned the exterior of the vacant buildings ever since.
As Salt Lake City planners circle back on the block and address the need for new housing now, they are aware that the land is completely different from it was three years ago.
"This block is significant to the community," said Tammy Hunsaker, the deputy director of community services for the Salt Lake City Department of Community and Neighborhoods.
It's why planners and Salt Lake City leaders say it will be important to craft an inclusive process to find a solution that works for everyone as they plan a new future for the block.
"We want to hear from and build trust with community members during this unprecedented time and attention to this issue of what it means to be inclusive, and what it means to truly listen and hear from community members," Hunsaker said. "So we are defining and planning out what the community visioning process looks like."
City planners updated the Salt Lake City Council on Fleet Block during a work session Tuesday afternoon. The block was home to Salt Lake City's vehicle fleet up until the city shifted its fleet to another facility in 2010. It's now listed as public land, but in 2019 an effort began to rezone it to FB-UN3, an urban neighborhood zoning district, as the idea to transform the area heated up.
The block was recently valued at $37.5 million, or $98 per square foot; however, Hunsaker said that's based on a "clean property" and doesn't include remediation costs. It's currently estimated to cost as much as $2 million to clean up the block, though that estimate could change due to different variables, she added.
The other variables include power lines, environmental contamination and street condition concerns that will need to be addressed. Underground parking is likely not a solution because of the block's high water table, city planners say.
It's still too early to know when change will come to the block, but as city planners and leaders begin to accept and review requests for proposals regarding how the site is reimagined in the future, they say the past two years made it clear that the city needs to reform its processes as it redevelops. So, the city rekindled the Fleet Block Project by taking in new input.
Ashley Cleveland, Salt Lake City's deputy director of community outreach, said she met one-on-one with 10 people representing seven families beginning last August. Those meetings are being used to form a project recommendation letter, which is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
There's no playbook to do this right. And we have the chance to model together the humility required to do this right.
–Victoria Petro-Eschler, Salt Lake City councilwoman
Not everyone she met had a clear vision for the area, but the heads of five of the seven families signed off on a recommendation letter, Cleveland said. She said some are interested in what happens with the block in the future. They offered ideas of change, like having the space include new affordable housing, a day care center, financial literacy classes, or an area that helps homeless people.
Salt Lake City Councilman Darin Mano, whose district includes the block, lit up at the idea of including "significant open space," especially because the area lacks green space. He spitballed the idea of including some type of memorial wall or social justice plaza in the project to pay homage to what the block means today.
Ultimately, Hunsaker said the goal is to engage with community members from all sorts of backgrounds in ways that repair the block and take into account the needs of residents while also being financially feasible.
Whatever the future holds, Mano said he's "encouraged" by where the discussion is heading. He and other councilmembers told planners that they are confident about the project's future as long as community involvement is included early and often as it unfolds.
"This might be the hardest thing that we're going to do as a corporation for the next couple of years," said Salt Lake City Councilwoman Victoria Petro-Eschler. "Because of the historic disenfranchisement that we are standing in the crosshairs of, there's no playbook to do this right. And we have the chance to model together the humility required to do this right."
