Special Announcement: Salt Lake City Public Lands Becomes Own Department
The last few years have been exciting, enlightening, and unprecedented for Salt Lake City Public Lands.
These divisions historically operated as maintenance organizations to keep our open spaces green and landscaped. While maintenance remains a primary focus, recent events and trends in the City have highlighted the need for these divisions to evolve beyond maintenance and incorporate short and long-term planning with a community-centric approach.
Some examples of such events and trends are as follows:
- A Public Lands needs assessment was completed in 2019. One of the conclusions of this assessment was that “94 acres of new park land will be required to meet future park needs at the same levels of service the public currently enjoys and expects today.”
- In 2020, the Golf Division and Special Event Permitting Program joined Public Lands, adding 33 full-time employees to the organization. Over the last 5 years, 44 additional full-time employees were added to the other divisions without adding management level staff.
- Multiple Public Lands master planning process have recently been completed, or will be completed in the near future. These include the Salt Lake City Cemetery Master Plan, the Foothill Trails System Plan, and the “Reimagine Nature: SLC Public Lands Master Plan.” Planning processes for Glendale Waterpark, Allen Park, and Pioneer Park are underway, and planning processes for Liberty Park and the Jordan River Trail Corridor have been proposed. These processes require a great deal of staff commitment, time and effort. Each project involves differing levels of public engagement and they also come with a variety of questions, phone calls and emails from the public, SLC Council, administration, and other departments.
To help Public Lands adapt to these exciting changes and trends, Mayor Mendenhall proposed that Public Lands split from the Public Services Department become a department of its own as part of the FY2022 City Budget. This budget was approved by City Council, and as of July 1, 2021, Salt Lake City has a new Public Lands Department.
Why was it Necessary to Create a New Department?
The departure from Public Services elevates Public Lands in a way that makes Public Lands more essential to the overall function of SLC Government. As the City faces climate, health, growth, and social challenges, Public Lands will be an equal voice at the table with City leaders and community partners to rethink how our open green spaces can be used as resources to revitalize our communities and not just to entertain residents.
The benefit of a Department structure is the foundational positions that make it possible for Public Lands to achieve goals to make informed decisions around planning, expanding, and restoring the public green space system and to meet the expectations of the community. The move to a Department will lead to the addition of administrative level staff, helping Public Lands become better positioned to keep up with the changes and challenges facing our City.
Get Involved!
The best thing Salt Lake City Residents can do to support the new Public Lands Department is to regularly engage with our staff and project planning processes. Follow us on social media (see links at the bottom of the email), sign up for our monthly newsletter, volunteer at a stewardship event, and attend our monthly PNUT Advisory Board meetings. If you do these things, it’ll be easy to know how you can help us care for our city’s Public Lands now and in the future. |
|
Call For Creatives!
CALL FOR CREATIVES: We are looking for artists, crafters, and vendors for our October 9th Art in the Park event at Allen Park. Applications will close August 31st at 5:00PM. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance to the Artist Market no later than September 3rd.
Click the button below to learn more and apply:
|
|
|
Richmond Park Community Garden Opening
On August 4th, we celebrated the completion of the new Richmond Park Community Garden! (444 E. 600 S.)
Special thanks to our speakers: Mayor Mendenhall, Council Member Valdemoros, Ashley Patterson with Wasatch Community Gardens, community gardener Bailey Roberts, community gardener Sean Whaley, and Dr. Jackie Thompson. Dr. Thompson performed a character portrayal of the park's namesake, Mignon Barker Richmond.
|
|
|
Rain On? Irrigation Off!
Thanks to the rainstorms we had earlier this month, our irrigation systems were turned off at the majority of our park properties, including the City Cemetery, from July 30th through August 11th.
The Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities recently shared this graph, which shows a significant drop in water use from July 5th to August 5th in their service area. Kudos to everyone who has answered the call to conserve water this summer! Keep up the good work!
The majority of park irrigation systems were turned off again between August 16th and August 23rd, thanks to the more recent rain events.
|
|
|
New Job Opportunities with Public Lands
We started this newsletter with an in-depth update about our recent change to becoming a city department. With this change, we are hiring a handful of new positions, including some key administrative roles on our team:
- Deputy Director
- Community Partnerships and Engagement Coordinator
- Public Lands Planner
We also have many other open positions, including new Golf Café Staff opportunities!
|
|
|
New Trail at Roots Disc Golf Course
Earlier this month, we started construction on a new natural surface, looped walking trail around the Jordan River Roots Disc Golf Course (1250 North Redwood Road). When complete, this new trail will provide an opportunity for the public to enjoy outdoor recreation and a publicly accessible trail through one of the largest opens spaces along the Jordan River, while protecting the integrity of the existing disc golf course. Construction should be complete in October of this year.
|
|
|
Final Yappy Hour of 2021
The final Yappy Hour of the season will be on September 14th, from 5-8pm at Liberty Park!
Bring you pups and enjoy good company, food trucks, activities, and more!
|
|
|
There's Still Time to Volunteer with Us This Summer!
This Spring, our Trails & Natural Lands Division launched a new volunteer portal. So far, it's been a very efficient tool to help them coordinate dozens of volunteer events! Visit this portal to see which volunteer events you'll be able to participate in for the rest of the summer. Click the button below!
|
|
|
Liberty Park Artesian Well Closure
Two naturally flowing artesian water sources are located within SLC Public Lands’ properties. One at Artesian Well Park (808 S 500 E) and the other at a drinking fountain in the south east corner of Liberty Park (near 1300 S 700 E). Recent tests at the Liberty Park fountain have shown the presence of coliform in the water. Out of an abundance of caution, the Liberty Park fountain has been shut off while SLC Public Lands performs disinfection and maintenance. As public health is a priority, the Liberty Park fountain will remain closed until the coliform contamination is no longer detected. It should be noted that these artesian water sources are not part of Salt Lake City Public Utilities’ water system and the presence of coliform in these sources does not pose a threat to the City’s drinking water.
Thank you for your patience as we get this issue resolved. If you regularly gather water at the Liberty Park fountain, we encourage you to use the source at Artesian Well Park as a temporary alternative. For questions, please visit the SLC Public Lands’ Liberty Park webpage or call 801-972-7800.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
