Salt Lake makes Fairpark offer to Real
Mayor pushes a reluctant council to OK resolution
The mayor pushed a somewhat reluctant City Council on Tuesday to vote 4-2 in support of a resolution pledging $8.5 million in city money for a soccer stadium at the Utah State Fairpark, on North Temple at 1000 West, in the event negotiations for a Sandy site fall through.
That event has become less likely, the mayor and others said Tuesday, as the Senate earlier in the day approved a bill that would make way for a south-valley stadium. But Anderson insisted the city's resolution was "crucial."
"I think it's important we keep this on track in case something goes awry with the standing proposal, which it very well may," Anderson said.
But a few council members, including mayoral candidates Dave Buhler and Nancy Saxton, wondered aloud whether approving the resolution would be moving too quickly with too little time for public debate and comment.
"Let's face it: This has not gone through the normal process," Buhler said, noting that Tuesday's council briefing, discussion and vote were the first time the issue has been on a public agenda since Anderson and council members revived it in the wake of county Mayor Peter Corroon's decision to deny county funding last week.
Saxton voted no, saying, "If we make a decision tonight the kind of notice that we will have given to the public to come for any kind of public information is minimal. We now have an issue that will be over $8 million and the public hasn't had enough information."
Councilman Eric Jergensen also voted no, saying he believed the Fairpark option was the "more reasonable" one but that he had concerns about having not seen projections of Real's viability at the Fairpark site.
Councilwoman Jill Remington Love recused herself, citing an unspecified relationship with a business that "deals with" Real.
The mayor said he, the governor and legislative leaders have consistently planned a "two-track" approach, with deals being worked out for a Sandy site and a Fairpark site, just in case problems cropped up with one or the other.
But Buhler said he got a different impression listening to Tuesday's Senate debate on the Sandy deal.
"I didn't hear anything about two tracks," he said. "It seemed very much like a 'kumbayah' moment."
The resolution approved Tuesday was a third revision since the mayor's proposal was first released Friday. The deal again offers $8.5 million in city money, which had been in the original proposal but went up to $12.5 million Monday as the team's projected costs increased.
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