UTA drawing fire over South Salt Lake office-park plan

SOUTH SALT LAKE (Deseret News) — University of Utah graduate student Sarah Morrow lives on the edge of her industrial suburb, tucked between the county jail and a regional transit station on one side and busy 3900 South on the other.

But Morrow recently explained to one of her classes that she and her neighbors at the River Run Condominiums feel a sense of quiet and seclusion despite the hubbub, all because of a 62-acre vacant field and a lack of immediate access to the main roads.

Now, all that is being threatened by Utah Transit Authority plans to put an office park on the field.

UTA owns the land in question near 3800 South and 700 West but so far has not developed it because South Salt Lake zoning only allows single-family residences there.

UTA wants to change the zoning and have a private developer put up shops, warehouses and light manufacturing, UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter said. The transit authority could also build a road connecting 900 West to 3900 South, thereby turning condo owners' front yards into a busy thoroughfare.

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