The disputed property is east of the gravel pits along Beck Street in Salt Lake City (SLC).
NSL owns the land, which is inside Salt Lake boundaries and is zoned by that city as open space. NSL officials are seeking the boundary change to allow 10 acres for housing, 23 acres for a cemetery, with the remaining 47 acres to be left as natural open space.
Following the rejection, the planning commission voted to send the issue to the Salt Lake City Council, "strongly" recommending that Mayor Rocky Anderson, and the city, purchase the land from NSL.
The commission didn't completely close the door, however. It chose to leave the option open to negotiate if Salt Lake can't find enough money for the property.
NSL Mayor Kay Briggs told the commission he too wanted to protect open space, but he said there were developers hoping to buy the property for over $100,000 an acre, and they would likely seek to put homes on the bulk of it.
Briggs expressed frustration with the delay. The planning commission had tabled an earlier request in March 2004.
"I'm getting tired of walking in and out of the mayor's office," Briggs told the commission.
In an October 13 letter to Anderson, Briggs gave Salt Lake City 60 days to decide before looking at other options.
In the meeting, Briggs cited development on the capitol benches, charging that planners had a double standard for not protecting the hundreds of acres there.
Briggs, and planning consultant Bill Wright, said the land could only be serviced by NSL, and they questioned an appraisal, conducted by Salt Lake City, that listed the land's worth at $300,000 for all 80-acres. Wright said the appraisal highlighted the "magnitude" of the pricing discrepancy between developed land and open space.
He said it would be unlikely that Salt Lake City could buy the land -- to match what developers were willing to pay. "It is a significant number that will need to be raised to purchase this property," Wright told the commission.
Though they apologized for the delay, commissioners said they would look to preserve the entire acreage.
Several Salt Lake City residents were at the public hearing to ask the city to buy the property.
One representative from the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Committee asked the commission to "leave no stone un-turned" to protect the area.
In a letter to Commission Chairman Tim Chambless, the Salt Lake Mayor's Open Space Advisory Committee said the land should be preserved as "naturalized open space."
The open space committee wrote that it would also seek to develop a "funding package which will assist in acquiring and permanently preserving this geo-antiquity." Following the meeting, NSL officials said the decision offered little change.
They believe that with each setback, the pressure to sell the property mounts. Some believe another rejection would leave NSL little choice but to let developers battle Salt Lake City for disconnection. According to City Manager Collin Wood, however, officials are reluctant to say just what they'll do until the Salt Lake City Council hears the issue in early December.
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