Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Changes to Utah's liquor laws could trickle down to the economics of downtown Salt Lake City as the mayor and his staff look at where to go from here.
The Downtown Alliance hosted a roundtable discussion Tuesday on how to create a more dynamic downtown Salt Lake City, where things stand right now, and what the future looks like. But a large part of that discussion centered on how changes to Utah's liquor laws might help the cause of a bustling, vibrant downtown.
Right now, law prohibits more than two private clubs on one city block face in Salt Lake. That's just one area of city ordinances that could change now that the state law has cleared the way.
City Council member Eric Jergensen says an entertainment district is also on the table. "We've discussed it, we've looked at it," he confirmed. "Whether we'll actually get there or not, to where there's an actual boundary of an area that we'll call the entertainment district, remains to be seen."
Jergensen says one possibility is opening up areas of town where there are no clubs now. But he says one roadblock to prospective businesses at the moment is how expensive it is to start a private club in Salt Lake City.
"We need to look at how we can maybe bring them together or somehow create the incentive or create the methodology in our zoning so that that economic difficulty is maybe reduced," he said.
Frank Gray, Economic and Development Director for Salt Lake City, says it's already in the talking stages. "We have a whole committee actually working on that inside the city, trying to find ways to streamline that process," Gray said.
Between 2005 and 2012, investment in the downtown central business district will total $5 billion. Jason Perry, Executive Director of the governor's office of economic development, says that's unheard of.
"It really is unprecedented for the state of Utah, but even right now, given the circumstances of the world, to have any kind of investment of that size done inside a capital city - $5 billion by 2012 will be spent on projects here in Salt Lake," Perry said.
One common thread at the roundtable discussion was the optimism for the future, even in the face of what sounds like discouraging news, such as Sam Weller's bookstore moving out of its iconic Main Street location.
Members of all the groups represented, including the Salt Lake Chamber and the Downtown Alliance, say they see great things in store for Salt Lake's downtown area, and that $5 billion investment has a lot to do with it.
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
