Salt Lake City seeks creative funding options as Liberty Park upgrades could cost $41M

SALT LAKE CITY — Liberty Park is still a popular draw after well over a century.

Approximately 7,000 visitors flock to the outdoor gem every weekday, and close to 11,000 on Saturdays and Sundays, based on foot traffic studies conducted by the Salt Lake City Department of Public Lands.

It's also showing signs of its age, which is why the department has been working on a vision plan to address maintenance needs and pinpoint opportunities to enhance the park — and addressing those could be costly. The department estimates that a three-phase vision plan tied to its aging infrastructure could take $36.3 million to $40.9 million to fully implement over several years.

It could force the city to get creative as the park nears its 150th birthday in the coming years.

"I do feel like this is one of the most loved and used parks in Salt Lake City and so, with that love and with that use and with planning for the future, it's going to require additional funding and support from various kinds to maintain (what's in the plan)," said Salt Lake City Council Vice Chairwoman Erika Carlsen.

The future of Liberty Park

On Tuesday, Salt Lake City Public Lands staff presented the Salt Lake City Council with an update on where the plan stands. City park planners began a cultural landscape report and vision plan about two years ago.

Feedback from more than 1,000 people helped craft the vision plan, which focuses heavily on enhancing existing park features, said Kathryn Sonntag, associate landscape architect for the department. Key elements from it were released to the public in May.

Related:

Salt Lake City reveals its vision for the future of its oldest park

Salt Lake City released its Liberty Park Vision Plan, which seeks to enhance one of the city's more cherished outdoor gems.

Some of the future projects include adding new riparian vegetation for the park pond and a new boardwalk for birdwatching by it, as well as a new path around it since an informal one has been crafted by visitors already.

It also calls for the city to plant new trees to preserve one of the park's iconic elements, as the park's existing trees age and face potential replacement. A new greenhouse would also replace the historic one that is unlikely to be preserved.

Other notable projects include a road diet that could be added within the park's southwest corner to better split the park's perimeter trail and the road for safety, along with improvements along the park's perimeter path and safer entry points.

These projects are expected to be implemented in phases over the next decade and beyond.

Initial "signature projects," along with deferred preservation and maintenance — potentially carried over over the next five years as money is available — are expected to cost $10.8 million to $13.1 million combined.

The second phase is expected to begin sometime over the next five to 10 years, costing another $3.2 million to $4.4 million. The final phase, including projects like converting nonfunctional grass to water-wise meadows, is expected to cost between $22.3 million and $23.4 million, but is also not expected to be considered until sometime beyond the next decade.

It's considered somewhat of a higher priority because of the park's popularity, said Kathrine Andra, a senior planning strategist for Salt Lake City Public Lands.

"Due to the usage and how beloved and how significant Liberty Park is, that was a super high priority for us —out of all of parks — to get a vision plan established," she said.

Getting creative

Salt Lake City could explore various outside revenue sources to cover those costs, Sonntag said, when pressed by the City Council. These include grants from county, state and federal governments, as well as new funding from sponsors or adding more concessionaires.

"We really felt like the greenhouse, in particular, lent itself to creating some really strong private-public partnerships, and could really help us establish that pattern in our parks," she said, noting that it could be used for education or event space.

That seemed to strike a chord with city leaders, who have voiced worries about adding new projects since adopting a 12.5% property tax increase during the latest budget to address some of the rising costs it faces.

City Council Chairman Alejandro Puy suggested naming rights, sponsorships and other types of partnerships as options the city should consider as a way to enhance taxpayer dollars so the plan isn't left untouched for years because of lack of funds.

"I believe there are opportunities out there that we should explore," he said. "We might be reinventing the wheel for ourselves, but the wheel has been invented in other cities across the country."

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