On September 12, 2024 more than 100 people gathered to discuss the future of the Ballpark neighborhood at the Urban Indian Center. The meeting was organized by the grassroots nonprofit organization, the Ballpark Action Team.
The meeting included a dialogue with Mayor Erin Mendenhall, and opportunities to provide input into the changes coming to the Road Home’s Palmer Court, our new pop-up library, improvements to the Mead Avenue Underpass being organized by the C9 Community Council, enhancements to Jefferson Park, and the Ballpark NEXT team from the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City (RDA).
We are grateful for our colleagues at each of these organizations, and especially for the generosity of our hosts at the Urban Indian Center, which is celebrating its 50th year in our neighborhood! You can keep up with their programs at https://uicsl.org/.
This report focuses on the interim use of the Smith’s Ballpark.
What is the current status of the stadium?
Decisions about the future of the stadium remain in flux. Here is what we know.
The City and the University of Utah baseball team intend to execute an agreement that
will allow the Utes baseball team to use the ballpark for its its 2025 season, which spans from January until July. Contract negotiations are underway.
Salt Lake City would be permitted to host/contract with others for events within the facility when it is not being used for games. This is a change from the contracts with the Millers/Bees and something we could take advantage of. However, City staffing to create these events is not clear.
Chief of Police Mike Brown and Mayor Mendenhall indicated the security and maintenance will follow current winter protocol. No fence will be placed around the stadium. Funding for ongoing security and maintenance will be addressed in the new agreement.
What is up with Ballpark NEXT?
The Ballpark NEXT planning is advancing on schedule, though it is not an overnight process like the new NHL team and downtown Entertainment and Sports District!
The international design firm Perkins&Will was hired to develop an “Urban Design Framework” for the site. This framework was described as ‘community human centered’ and focuses not only on physical elements (siting of potential buildings, greenspace and new streets) but on the benefits to and needs of the residents, including cultural and social elements.
Perkins&Will is using the Ballpark NEXT vision statement which was crafted by the community as the foundation of their work: “The future Ballpark Site is an iconic, exciting destination for the neighborhood, city and region, It is a catalyst for the transformation of the neighborhood, attracting people and development that uplifts and celebrates the area and its residents.”
Three urban design options will be presented to the community and the RDA in December. These plans will include one that envisions the removal demolition of the stadium, a plan for reuse, and a plan for partial reuse. Residents will be able to comment on the proposal at the RDA’s Board meeting as well as through the Ballpark NEXT website.
This plan will be used to create the Request for Proposals that will, in turn, result in actual development. This development will be phased over years, and involve private developers. In other words, we are years from any ground breaking.
The Ballpark NEXT committee (which involves local businesses and neighbors) continues to meet. Follow progress and get more detail on their website.
What about the $100 million pledged to the neighborhood?
When the Bees announced they were leaving, the Mayor shared that $100 million dollars will be raised to support the long term success of the neighborhood. This fund is called the Ballpark Trust. The Miller Family Foundation has already pledged $22 million (it has not been donated anywhere yet) and is leading the effort to raise an additional $78 million (though no one has publicly signed on yet). Much of the $78 million is likely to be in the form of ‘impact investments’, meaning it is not a donation or charitable gift, but one where a return on investment (ie, profit) is less important to the investor that a social impact return. There are a lot of philanthropists, foundations and businesses that have impact investment funds.
The framework for this fund, as well as the Ballpark NEXT redesign overall, will work to support the CDC’s is called “Social Determinants of Health” through the built environment and community programming. You can read more about this concept here, but they include things like access to healthy food, economic stability, education, health care, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community elements.
BAT will continue to keep an eye on this process and how we can advocate for our community.
Ideas for how we can use the stadium for the next few years
There were a few ways to share their ideas for the use of the stadium. The RDA collected votes on boards with concepts for long-term uses. We collected ideas for the immediate / short term use with a phone app and on paper. This word cloud’ describes our hopes and ideas for the interim use plan.
We also collected ideas for how we can activate the stadium in the coming years. Here they are in rank order:
Additional specific ideas collected on big sheets hung around the space included:
Farmer’s market
Winter / Holiday Market
Art Expo
Cultural Dancing Area / Pow Wows
Move the Redwood Road Swap Meet to the stadium
Ice skating
Park / dog park
Pride Festival
Move Gallivan Center concerts to the Ballpark
Music venue
Beer Fest
Youth and Adult Sports League (Beehive Sports, Kickball, Women’s teams, etc.)
What in next?
18 months ago we gathered at Publik Coffee, stunned and angered by the news that the Bees were leaving. At that time Erika Carlsen closed our meeting with these thoughts:
“There might be a perception among those outside our neighborhood that the Ballpark isn’t a great place to be. And sure, like any community, we have our share of challenges. But unlike other communities, what sets us apart is we’ve got tremendous heart, community-driven care, and real investment in our neighborhood. If a ragtag group of neighbors can bring together all these people for an evening gathering, imagine what more we can do together.
Our action item is to say that now more than ever for our friends, family, neighbors, city and state to understand the magic and possibility of our neighborhood. That as neighbors you spread more of the magic of what this place is, and what this can be. The Bees' departure signals to us that they missed something – they didn’t see what we see about our neighborhood. We need the most creative urban planners, resources, to see what we see – to see and feel that magic that has led us to put down roots here, raise families, and open businesses.
We need to make visible the magic that brought us to this neighborhood and reframe the way we talk about the neighborhood to focus on possibility and progress. We look forward to both walking alongside our elected officials and holding them to account on how together we can make real the magic of this neighborhood.”
The Ballpark Action Team was born from that call to action.
We invite you to join us in whatever way makes sense. This is your organization. Now that we are off the ground, we plan on holding more formal and informal gatherings. Please let us know how we can help you go to ‘bat for the Ballpark’. You can reach us at ballparkactionteam@gmail.com, on our website ballparkactionteam.org or via instagram @ballparkactionteam.
Thank you!
Thank you to the neighbors who volunteered their time to plan this meeting, especially Erika for developing the agenda and facilitating, Michael Aberman and Aaron Boyce for their work on the Ballpark Banners project (don’t they look great!), volunteers for greeting neighbors, the Bees for helping us give away 100 tickets, Rae Dial for our design, our friends at the Urban Indian Center, and Kevin Randall for our fantastic instagram account. We deeply appreciate the participation of our guests Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Council Member Darin Mano, Chief Brown, and the City staff.
Thanks especially to the more than 100 neighbors and friends of the Ballpark neighborhood who came to share their ideas with each other and the City. Hope to see you in the neighborhood soon!
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