This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Having a national planner in town provided an opportunity Thursday for two mayors — Salt Lake County's Ben McAdams and South Salt Lake's Cherie Wood — to show off their plans to develop a residential and commercial hub around the S Line streetcar.
The county's regional development office and the Wasatch Front Regional Council gave the city a $25,000 grant earlier this year to plan a development that takes advantage of the presence of the east-west train line to draw residents to the area, along with businesses, their employees and customers. The development will be located within what's being called the East Streetcar Area, between South Salt Lake's future city center and the Sugar House Central Business District.
McAdams and Wood toured the area Thursday with Christopher Leinberger, a national planning expert who spoke at the Wasatch Choice for 2040 Consortium meeting at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
Together, the county and Wasatch Front Regional Council last year handed out $460,000 to help communities embrace high-quality, transit-oriented developments. Those organizations are now accepting letters of intent from cities interested in applying for 2015 planning funds.