Click here for the original article on the Salt Lake Tribune site.
By María Villaseñor
The Salt Lake Tribune
COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS - If a "for sale" sign ever goes up in front of the vacant Cottonwood Heights Elementary School, city leaders want to snatch up the property.
The nearly 11 acres on Bengal Boulevard would help Cottonwood Heights officials move forward with their plan to create a city center right in the "darn-near, dead center of the city."
Bruce Jorgensen, of GSBS Architects which designed the concept plan, said the city center will build a sense of community and be a gathering place for residents.
Had Cottonwood Heights sprung as a city, a civic center would have been built at the very start.
Instead, the city began as "small clusters of civilization and then it just became suburbs" in unincorporated Salt Lake County.
Later in 2005, Cottonwood Heights became a city and its newly elected mayor and council members rented space in an office building on Fort Union Boulevard for their cubicles and council chambers. And the month-old police department is headquartered on the building's bottom floor.
Three years ago, the city commissioned a residential survey to outline a general plan, and the one spot that held promise for a city center was that corner, near the Cottonwood Heights Recreation Center and the park's 11 athletic fields.
Plans include a police station, a City Hall, an amphitheater, a pavilion and a
children's water feature. Initially, only one building for a City Hall would be constructed, but the city wants to keep enough space to expand and someday include a library, senior center or other civic facility.
While any groundbreaking for a new city center could be several years away, "it's a good time to look at it and plan it," said City Planner Michael Black.
Plus, developing a conceptual design and hosting public open houses gives residents a chance to help create the blueprint for a new city center, "so that we can receive public input well in advance to when we would actually propose the plan," said Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore during a recent City Council presentation.
And a few residents have already voiced enthusiasm for the project, as well as some reservations.
Black said some neighbors are worried about increased traffic (there should be as many, or slightly fewer, cars driving through than with the elementary, he said) and the police station could increase criminal activity.
"The impact typically lessens the crime in the area," said Assistant Chief Paul Brenneman, who added a headquarters for the Cottonwood Heights Police Department would not include a jail with holding cells, but would be similar to the former Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office substation.
The CHPD's station would be built on about an acre near the school - land the city owns.
"The police station is the one to watch for," Black said, adding it has the potential to be built earlier and possibly before any other land is acquired.
As long as the city doesn't raise any taxes to build it, resident Bill Carrigan likes the new city center.
"If you can eliminate rent and put it toward a new building, I'm all for it," said Carrigan, who attended the open house to post an item about it on his community Web site, www.chcommunity.com.
He was happy to see the plan would add to the existing park's green space.
The city center's total building space would be two-thirds the size of the elementary school and would expand a half-field in the park to full size.
"I think it's going to look good," Carrigan said.
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