I remember back when I served (8 years!) as a volunteer Planning and Zoning Commissioner for Salt Lake City. It was one of the most interesting and educational experiences I’ve ever had. Besides learning about past, present and future planning laws and trends I learned a great deal about my city.  At one meeting an out-of-state consultant had been brought in as an expert in ‘green spaces’ in cities. He had not ever traveled here, but when asked in our public hearing about adding more green spaces to our city and county he laughed and said, “Why do you need more when it’s a 15-minute drive or 30-minute bike ride to the hills and mountains around here?!”

Ali Vallarta, host of City Cast Salt Lake podcast spent two years documenting every single public park in Salt Lake County and found there were a total of 511 of them. She found in her study that 69% of the parks didn’t have year-round public bathroom access, that only 15 of the parks have full family amenities and that a quarter of county households are not within walking distance to a park. Walking or biking to a park was a major amenity planned for all of Daybreak and that may be one of the reasons the massive development under the eye of the copper mine is so popular as a place to live.  There is a park, path, and playground area within 5 minutes of any home out there and there are plans for much more in their future development plans.

The downtown Farmers Market at our historic Pioneer Park started this past weekend and folks were surprised to see the north end of the park closed and all the streets around it (except 300 West) were closed to cars and only good for pedestrians during the market hours.  Pioneer Park is seeing massive improvements to the tune of almost $20 million paid for by Salt Lake City. There will eventually be a fountain and main pavilion, pickleball and basketball courts, a better dog park and playground.

Liberty Park, our second largest public green space, is also undergoing significant improvements in the next 20 years. There are massive plans to preserve and repair some of the historic buildings, take out dying trees and planting better ones for our climate, adding and expanding indoor and outdoor gardens, putting in a new greenhouse, expansion of “Liberty Lake” with a boardwalk and trail. Currently the Rotary Play Park, an all-age, all-abilities playground, is being rebuilt with new swings, climbing towers, shaded seating and picnic areas. They are also working on the Seven Canyons water feature that may become a dry art installation that will use light, sound and sculpture to engage visitors…but no water will run through it.

Summer is here and for a list of the parks to discover and enjoy that Vallarta found, go to:

saltlake.citycast.fm/parks/visiting-every-park-in-salt-lake-county