Salt Lake likely to alter names on 2 streets, then pause
Salt Lake City Boy Scout Junior Cruz wants the city to rename a stretch of 300 South in honor of Marine Cpl. Adam Galvez, the only known Salt Lake resident to have died in the Iraq war. Galvez, 21, died Aug. 20 in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded under his vehicle. Cruz, a 15-year-old sophomore at East High School, would like 300 South between Redwood Road and I-15 to be Adam Galvez Street.
Mayor Rocky Anderson's administration wants to put proposals for street-name changes on hold until the city can work out a clear policy. But council members expect to sign off on the Galvez request, as well as a request to rename 100 South Japantown Street between 200 West and West Temple, and then call for a moratorium.
"That's a done deal," said Councilman Van Turner, whose district includes the Poplar Grove neighborhood through which Adam Galvez Street would run.
The council plans to discuss the issue at its meeting tonight, with a briefing from Community Development Director Louis Zunguze, whose department is requesting the policy review.
The Galvez and Japantown requests, along with an incomplete application to rename part of 800 East for the biblical Mount Ararat, make for an unusually high number of requests currently pending.
The Utah Department of Transportation has handled other street-name changes in the city, including the recent renaming of part of 300 West for John Stockton, because they are state roads.
Buhler said he supports Turner's desire to see the Galvez request approved before putting future applications on hold.
"It's kind of picked up in popularity," Buhler said of name-change requests. "It is a nice recognition for people and groups, but we probably should look at it holistically."
A policy review would likely include questions such as whether name changes should be limited to historical figures or events and school mascots, should include major thoroughfares or side streets and should have a different application fee.
Street-name changes now require an application fee of $250. The planning division then reviews the application, considering factors such as whether the proposal has the support of adjacent landowners and what impact it would have on postal delivery and utilities. A recommendation is then forwarded to the City Council, which has the final say. The applicant must pay for new road signs.
Turner and Buhler said the issue comes up now not because of a problem with the idea of naming a street for Galvez, but because of concerns about an onslaught of name-change proposals with no clear guidelines for considering them.
"We just need to step back, kind of take a deep breath and get a policy," Turner said. "It's just too bad we can't do it for every soldier of every war."
E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com
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