Plan for Salt Lake aquarium won't be on fall ballot
To ward off a bad case of "voter fatigue," the Salt Lake County Council on Tuesday kept the number of ballot initiatives to three: an $895 million bond to help pay for TRAX expansion, $63 million for recreational projects and $48 million to preserve open and green space across the valley.
A $34.5 million initiative to build the Living Planet Aquarium downtown didn't make the cut.
"I have ballot fatigue just from putting things on the ballot," Councilman Michael Jensen said with a smile.
Twice now, the aquarium has failed to make the ballot. The Living Planet had sought to be included on the 2004 ballot but didn't make it, and history repeated itself Tuesday.
The council didn't vote on whether Living Planet should be on the ballot — it avoided the question altogether.
Instead, the council decided to start negotiations with Salt Lake City to find a way to allow aquarium officials to extend the lease on the land the Living Planet wants for its future home, at 336 S. 400 West. Salt Lake City's redevelopment agency owns that land and has been leasing it to the aquarium for the past several years for a nominal amount of money.
The County Council doesn't want that to happen, several council members said.
"We need to make this work," Councilman Mark Crockett said.
"I think this could be an amazing thing for this community," Councilwoman Jenny Wilson said. "Now is not the right time."
On Tuesday, the County Council voted to start negotiations with the city and the RDA board, with the possibility of giving the aquarium some money to help with lease problems later in the year during budget hearings.
The RDA board, which doubles as the Salt Lake City Council, has not been approached about extending the lease on the land, said Carlton Christensen, the board's chairman.
"Based on the agreement, we're just going status quo unless they ask us otherwise," Christensen said. "We've not really had any discussions, and until 2008, we're committed to them and committed to that site."
David Wolf, vice chairman of the Living Planet's board of directors, said that although he was upset that voters won't have a chance to weigh in on the aquarium's future, he was happy that the council didn't outright kill the project.
"Not only will we press on, but we will continue to thrive," Wolf said.
Aquarium officials are now evaluating all their options, said Brad Carroll, secretary of the Living Planet's board of directors. Those options could include anything from funding the aquarium entirely through private dollars to trying to make the county ballot again in two years.
"Whether it's publicly funded or privately funded, we will succeed," Carroll said.
Contributing: Kersten Swinyard
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
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