Why Utah has yet to officially receive Salt Lake City’s Smith Entertainment Group plan

SALT LAKE CITY — It has almost been a month since Salt Lake City leaders voted unanimously to approve Smith Entertainment Group’s downtown revitalization plan to create a “sports, entertainment, culture and convention” district surrounding a remodeled Delta Center for the NBA’s Utah Jazz and the NHL’s Utah Hockey Club.

That July 9 vote could have triggered a 30-day window for the Revitalization Zone Committee, a five-member state commission set up to give final approval to the plan, by a Sept. 1 deadline outlined in state code. However, as of Thursday, the commission has not yet scheduled a meeting for when it will vote on the measure, and its members say the commission has not officially received the document, either.

So what’s the holdup?

Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, a member of the Revitalization Zone Committee and sponsor of the bill that set up the process, explained Thursday that the two sides agreed to delay the formal 30-day process until everyone was in town at the same time. The Sept. 1 deadline is actually the deadline for the agreement to be sent to the state, not the time it has to be approved by everyone.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall told reporters — minutes after the City Council vote — she expected the measure would be formally sent to the state the following day. Had that happened, the state committee would have had to approve the agreement or send it back to the city with notes on any changes by this week.

The problem is many city and state leaders were already scheduled to go to Paris shortly after the vote, where they made their final pitch to lock down Salt Lake City’s bid to host the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics to the International Olympic Committee. Mendenhall and at least two members of the committee traveled to Paris with a delegation that only returned recently.

Between that and other arrangements across the board, both sides quickly realized there wasn’t much time for the state to review the document.

Andrew Wittenberg, a spokesman for the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, confirmed the two sides agreed to coordinate when the document would be submitted. He told KSL.com it would likely be sent early next week, which is when the 30-day window will begin.

“We’ve been coordinating with the legislative committee on the timing for the city to formally submit the agreement, as it triggers other next steps and obligations,” he added, in a prepared statement.

Ryan and Ashley Smith have a vision for future of downtown, and believe it’s possible

It’s unclear exactly when the state committee will meet, but it must occur sometime within the 30-day window. So if the document is submitted early next week, its deadline would hit the second week of September. McCay said it will take place sometime “before the statutory deadline.”

He added that there’s no real timeline for the city after the state committee approves the agreement other than a strict tax deadline. The City Council will have one last vote to finalize the measure after that decision once the state approves the plan. If the state denies the agreement, the city can have multiple attempts to get an agreement approved by the state — but it has a Dec. 31 deadline to impose a new tax.

Of course, the Revitalization Zone Committee’s decision isn’t the last step in the process. It would be up to the Salt Lake City Council to vote on the proposed 0.5% sales tax increase and zoning changes tied to the plan.

Wittenberg said the city intends to vote on zoning changes by the end of this month. The City Council has two meetings this month, one on Tuesday and another on Aug. 27. It already scheduled a public hearing for proposed zoning changes tied to the plan on Tuesday, while the rezoning vote could take place on Aug. 27.

If approved, the proposed changes would increase the maximum building heights in the area to 600 feet. While that’s 150 feet taller than any existing building in the city, the City Council lifted its maximum height requirements for the heart of downtown — an area east of the arena district — last year.

It would have until the end of the year to approve the proposed 0.5% sales tax increase. Funds from the increase would go toward the repayment of up to $900 million in bonds that Smith Entertainment Group plans to acquire to pay for the project, the agreement states. About $525 million of the bond would go toward arena renovations, and the rest would go toward other aspects of the plan, such as a new parking garage or a plaza east of the arena.

In return, the company, which owns the Utah Jazz and the Utah Hockey Club, agreed to add a new ticket fee that would go toward a city account to help pay for affordable housing projects. The city would also receive other benefits, including new internships, shadowing and apprenticeship programs for high school and college students; more youth programming; and free/subsidized tickets for Salt Lake City-based community organizations.

McCay explained that the tax could be implemented right away because it’s a consumptive tax. Other taxes need advance notice before they are implemented, which led to some confusion among city leaders.

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