Smith’s Ballpark future is still uncertain as final Bees game approaches
Sep 12, 2024, 10:14 PM | Updated: 10:24 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Ballpark residents and Salt Lake City officials gathered in the neighborhood’s Urban Indian Center with one question: What will happen to Smith’s Ballpark once the Salt Lake Bees play their final game on Sept. 22?
On Thursday night, dozens attended a community meeting, during which the public asked the Salt Lake City Mayor direct questions. The mayor answered what Salt Lake is looking at in the short term and how far away we are from the answer in the long term.
The non-profit group Ballpark Action Team hosted a public question-and-answer session with Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
“We feel like there’s a bit of a lag in terms of progress on this, so we want to push the city and other stakeholders to keep moving this forward,” said Erika Carlsen, Ballpark Action Team co-chair.
Mayor Mendenhall answering residents’ questions. (KSL TV)
Some worried about that lag and asked the mayor for a promise not to let the ballpark sit undeveloped.
“What type of commitments can you give us, so that unlike last year when we felt the city would be shovel-ready in October we can totally trust that this process will move at the laid-out vision?” asked one man.
To that the mayor said she wants this project to have a lot of community input.
“I want us to do this process, and the commitment you can count on is what’s happened in the last 18 months,” Mendenhall said.
The mayor explained that Salt Lake City is currently talking with the University of Utah baseball team about continuing to play in the stadium next season while the university waits for its own baseball stadium to open in 2026.
Beyond that, the mayor said they gathered many ideas from the Ballpark Next contest and hired a firm to come up with a proposal.
A year after Bees announced departure, the future of Smith’s Ballpark is still being sorted out
The proposal could go one of three ways: the stadium could stay and be used in various ways, only preserve some of it and redevelop the rest, or demolish it entirely and start from scratch.
People hearing the ideas had mixed reactions.
“I don’t feel like I got any hard answers on what’s actually going to be happening in this interim space,” said Jess Oveson, worried about the Ballpark neighborhood.
“This is a big project to renew this place, and people have to be patient,” added Keith Manly, Ballpark resident.
“I think we all want to see something happen right away, but the reality of it is it’s a huge project and these things take time,” said Andy Bourne, worried about the Ballpark neighborhood.
Salt Lake City hopes to finalize the short-term deal with the University of Utah extremely soon. We know the city is expecting a proposal for the long-term plan by December. The final design is on track to be completed by March, but construction likely will not begin until 2026.
Bees’ groundskeeper gearing up for one last home opener at Smith’s Ballpark
