Members of the Salt Lake City Council opted to postpone voting on an ordinance that would create new, permanent zoning guidelines for public schools after members of the public raised issues with the proposed plans for the new West High School.
The Council voted unanimously during a meeting Tuesday to postpone any action on the ordinance, which also included a street vacation that would be necessary to rebuild West High with the existing plans, which were released last month. On Sept. 2, the council also opted to delay voting on the ordinance and refer it to a future meeting.
The proposed school’s striking, concrete facades that would front 300 West is a stark contrast to the existing West High that featured brick-heavy architecture. The newly-released plans sparked community pushback and criticism of the proposed designs.
District 3 Council Member Chris Wharton, who represents the Marmalade area where West High is located, said during the Tuesday meeting he’s still in the process of talking with community leaders and Salt Lake City School District officials regarding the issues over the designs.
“We have had — since the last time that we voted to postpone this — a meeting with all of the electeds that represent this area, including the school board, and just talk through some of the issues that the neighborhood has raised in terms of concerns with the structure,” Wharton said.
Wharton said the most recent meeting about the school took place last week, and he added there were still unresolved aspects of that meeting that SLCSD was still working on.
“I don’t want to keep delaying this, but I do want to delay it one more time until we can firm up some of those conversations,” he said Tuesday.
The delayed vote comes as the SLCSD is planning to rebuild two of its three high schools — West and Highland High School — following a successful bond initiative in 2024.
Currently, Salt Lake City schools are subject to a Temporary Land Use Regulation that the council enacted back in February. The proposed ordinance would have codified those regulations into city code.
The ordinance would have made a handful of changes to the city’s zoning code for schools, including increasing a school’s maximum height to 125 feet. Salt Lake City’s zoning code says 75 feet is the maximum height for, “local government facilities, prison or jail, government offices, arenas, stadiums, fairgrounds and exhibition halls” in the PL zone.
For all other buildings in the zone, the maximum was 35 feet — making the proposed new height for schools a steep upzone. The proposed changes would only impact public schools and would not include charter schools or universities.
The now-delayed ordinance also would have vacated a portion of 200 North between 300 West and 200 West. That strip of land is currently a part of West High School’s track and field complex. The track was built by the school in 1987, and the lease agreement associated with the strip of land still exists.
That strip of land is particularly crucial for West High, as the school district’s plans show the new school would be built on the track land, as well as nearby areas that are currently the tennis courts and the baseball field.
Plans for the new Highland school building show it will wrap around the existing school, as much of the new building will be constructed around the northern and eastern ends of the site. Currently that land is home to soccer fields and a parking lot.
Rebuilding both high schools are estimated to take years to finish. West is slated to be fully finished in 2032, while Highland is scheduled to be completed in 2031. The school district’s website says both projects should go out to bid by January 2026.
The plans for improving both West and Highland high schools were made possible in 2024, when Salt Lake City voters approved a bond proposal that approved $730 million in general obligation bonds to go toward rebuilding and improving the two high schools.
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