Both the City Council chambers and an overflow room were standing room only during a 11/21 Holladay City Planning Commission meeting. Photo by Isaac Riddle.
Several hundred Holladay residents flooded their city hall to voice their opposition to a proposed amendment to the Site Development Master Plan for the 57-acre site of the former Cottonwood Mall at the 4800 South block of Highland Drive.
On Tuesday, Holladay’s City Council Chambers and the overflow room were standing-room-only with residents sitting in the aisles and the hallway for the first of several public hearing on the proposed redevelopment of the Cottonwood Mall site by prolific local developers, Woodbury Corporation and Ivory Development.
“What we are trying to do is create walkable communities… sustainable communities where people live work and play,” said Chris Gamvroulas, president of Ivory Development.
The development team proposes a mix of commercial, multifamily and single-family homes. Under the current proposal, 17 of the site’s 57 acres would be reserved for higher density retail, office and multifamily residential buildings. The remaining 40 acres would be designated for lower density residential with up to 107 single family homes and 75 townhomes.
The project would also include a large plaza for events and five-acres of open space with community trails along Big Cottonwood Creek.
Holladay’s City Council approved the current development plan in 2007 when the site’s owner, the Howard Hughes Corporation, sought to develop the vacant property into a mixed-use, European-style town center. The Hughes Corp proposal would have included 600 residential units, 620,000 square feet dedicated to retail and entertainment and 260,000 square feet of commercial office space.
The Woodbury/Ivory proposal would have significantly less retail and nearly twice as many housing units, going from 600 units to between 1,035 to 1,255 units. Building height would also increase in the designated mixed-use area under the new proposal. Under the site’s current development plan, the developers can build up to the 90 feet, around eight-stories tall, along Highland Drive and Murray-Holladay Road. The new development team is asking the city to allow heights up to 135 feet, around 12-stories.
“It has taken us ten years working with Howard Hughes Corp to finally come forward with a proposal,” said Jeffrey Woodbury, senior vice president for development and acquisitions at Woodbury. “We are completely committed to this plan; we believe we can succeed, that the retail is the right size and that we have the right partner.”
Woodbury argued that his team sees the project as a walkable village and that a walkable community needs to have a live/work/play atmosphere. Additionally, Woodbury told the commission that the retail landscape is changing and even with the reduced retail component more residential units are necessary to support any additional retail in the neighborhood.
During Tuesday’s public hearing, residents were very vocal in their disapproval of any commercial or residential development of the 57-acre property.
Residents applauded and cheered for every speaker that spoke against the project. While some residents briefly heckled when a transportation engineer presented to the commission the results of a developer-funded traffic study.
In general, residents expressed concerns about the proposed height increase, arguing that it would block their views of the Wasatch Mountains.
“Holladay is a city of single-family homes and large trees,” said one resident. “Please save Holladay,” she pleaded.
Many residents called for more open space and parks instead of more development and criticized the project’s proposed density arguing it would negatively impact traffic, home values and neighborhood schools.
Several residents argued that the Cottonwood Mall site proposal goes against the family-focused nature of Holladay and that bringing new residents would hurt the city’s current residents.
“Holladay is not Daybreak,” said one resident. “These buildings will literally and figuratively cast a shadow over Holladay,” said another.
Tuesday’s public hearing was one of nine public meetings the city has planned to explore the new development proposal. Based on the city’s current schedule, the soonest the City Council would vote on the project would be in February 2018. If the council approves the revised proposal, Woodbury and Ivory will purchase the property from the Howard Hughes Corporation.
“If the plan before you tonight is not approved, then I’m afraid the site will likely sit vacant for years to come,” warned Chris Curry, senior executive vice president of development at Howard Hughes Corp.
But for many residents that spoke on Tuesday, a vacant lot would be better than a large mixed-use development.
“If you leave it alone, it will probably clean up on its own,” argued a long-term Holladay resident speaking about the 57-acre vacant lot.
Preliminary site plan for the proposed redevelopment of the site of the former Cottonwood Mall.
The residents of Holladay have been crazy for the 37 years I’ve lived in the valley!
Really all the home owners in Holladay… Sounds more like you are crazy!!!
We want our cottonwood mail back just like it was. We don’t want all the crap that is being proposed.
How long did it take to get the Holladay blvd and Holladay ave development done, 30 years!
I it still stupid looking. Crapy Parking and useless stores.
I heard alot of residence wanted Cottenmall as parks. That would raise property taxes an average of $1000 per home.
Good luck.
What you need to know is the department of urban development can hold back your citys grants that fund the fire department, police department and city services if you don’t have enough high density housing.
If you want Cottonwood Mall back just like it was then you need to find a time machine and go back to 1980 when people liked going to malls.
What is your interest in trying to change the minds of Holladay citizens? I’m not just being snide. This is a real question. What is it that you feel you would gain If the proposed plan we’re to be approved?
Lisa: There are a lot of reasons development like this is a good thing and I could write you an essay on it. But let’s start here: thousands of people die in Salt Lake valley each year because of our terrible air quality. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s an estimate from doctors at the University of Utah.
We are breathing toxic air because we’ve designed our cities around the idea that a 40 minute commute to work each day is reasonable. Well, it’s not – no matter how “normal” it is. If we want to be prepared for the future then we need to live closer to where we work. We need to build our cities around the scale of humans instead of around the scale of cars. We’re lucky that this kind of development is starting to happen in the valley. But people hate change and will fight to protect bad systems because no matter how bad it is it’s comfortable.
For more reasons why this is a good idea and what there is to gain, I recommend this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ZeXnmDZMQ
What you say about people needing to work closer to where they live is a great idea. However, high density development in holladay gives us no reason to believe that will happen. I myself work from home most days and do not drive at all. I also do not own an SUV for the use of caring around one person. My husband drives an enclosed recumbent bicycle to work year round. Moving humans that weigh under 200 pounds should be accomplished more efficiently than it is with driving vehicles that weigh thousands of pounds. The congestion caused by thousands of people coming in and out of the development would likely cause a lot of vehicle idling pollution. Also, my ability to work from home has nothing to do with the density of my community. A mixed use development does not ensure that the people living in the community also work in the same community…. sounds good but I believe it is specious. So other than air-quality, do you have any interest in this Development?
Are you a resident of Holladay?
I bet nobody would think twice about putting in a football sized parking lot and some big box stores. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
Do you live in Holladay? If not, I don’t think we care about your opinion.
I think they ought to have more retail and less single family homes in this plan.
Being “crazy“ is our prerogative as citizens of Holladay. I Suspect that many people did not move here to get a bargain on property tax. So, I’m at a loss as to how a high-density residential development will improve my life. I also don’t understand why, even with the additional tax revenue, it won’t create a burden on our schools.
So let me know how it’s going to be better for me. I live here. Also, if you don’t live here, I’d Love to know why whatever is incentivizing you should be part of this equation.
Having air that doesn’t kill you and your children is one benefit of high density development. I don’t live in Holladay, but I live in the valley and I also need air to survive, so I have an interest in supporting good development that is at a human scale instead of at a car scale.
I appreciate that concern. I also believe that having 1200 more residents at a minimum starting their cars in my neighborhood will make the air worse here. I don’t believe they’re all going to work locally in the development. They were driving away from the development and there will be a lot of them.