In the past six weeks I’ve had three flat tires from driving around downtown. Each time my hero ‘Joey’ at Burt Brothers tires has pulled out a long sheet rock screw out of my tire. This maddening fact is due to the massive amount of construction downtown, and between the awful potholes and the detritus on the streets from all the construction going on in Salt Lake City I might want to tell you all to AVOID the area!

Yes, the Temple is under construction and the east and west sides of the block are ingress and egress for supply trucks, cranes and a myriad of workers. The previous visitors’ centers been torn down and the area where the North Visitors Center was located is going to be turned into a reflective garden and the South Visitors Center on Temple Square is becoming an all new above-and below-ground facility for new guest experiences. Go east a block and you’ll see that the Lion House is fenced off as it is now having some upgrades to address structural deficiencies, preserve aging finishes, and replacement of outdated mechanical systems. It’s been closed since 2020 and the Beehive House will close April 8. The Joseph Smith Memorial Building is also undergoing similar work and all three buildings will re-open in 2025. The Church Office Building Plaza and neighboring Main Street Plaza are also being fluffed up. The Beehive House (yup, there’s a beehive sculpture on the top of the building) was built in 1854 as Brigham Young’s primary residence until his death in 1877. The same year the Beehive House was finished, Young began construction on another home next door where he installed a 1,200-pound stone sculpture of a lion (thus the name).

As for driving, here’s the streets going under the bulldozer this summer: 300 North (300 West to 1000 West), 2100 South Reconstruction (700 East to 1300 East), Virginia Street Reconstruction (South Temple to 11th Avenue), West Temple Reconstruction (North Temple to 400 South), 1300 East (2100 South to 3300 South). Most of the streets need ADA ramps, better bike lanes, new curbs, gutters and sidewalks. I’m not sure how the City will update Virginia Street as it’s pretty narrow, but the plan is to have a continuous sidewalk on the west side, uphill bike lanes to, traffic calming elements and improved bus stops.

Finally, remember it’s Spring in Utah!  That means you can golf or bike to the Great Salt Lake one day in sunny weather or the next day it will snow and you’ll be heading to the slopes. Spring brings out the WORST potholes throughout our town and we will all be cursing what they do to our cars and bikes until they are filled. The City likes to spend about three weeks each spring having a ‘Potlhole Palooza’ to put extra focus toward repairing these street holes.

The LDS Church has 335 Temples around the world in various phases of operation.  Some are in full operation; others are under construction or being remodeled. I’m not a member of the faith and in all the years I’ve been in Utah I’ve never actually been inside Mormon holy ground. When a Temple is being built or remodeled it will be formally dedicated and blessed before it’s sealed to the public. Once that happens then only card carrying members can enter the holy space.

They have just announced that the Church purchased one of the most cherished pieces of history the faith has ever known, the Kirtland Temple in Ohio. It was previously owned by the Independence, Mo. -based Community of Christ. Both church groups trace their roots back to Joseph Smith. This Temple will not be used as a private Latter-day Saint space but will be open to the public for tours as a historic building as of March 25^th. This former house of prayer was dedicated in 1836 and is now seen as a National Historic Landmark. It was built using local sandstone and native timber from surrounding forests.

The new St. George Temple known as the Red Cliffs Utah Temple was closed forever to the public on March 3^rd. I was able to tour it the day before and frankly was blown away by the simple elegance of the interior and the homage to local surroundings. When you approach the grounds, you might think you’re in Egypt as the palm trees planted on each side of the walkways leading to the building give a Middle eastern feel. Of course, per Mormon design, there are lovely fountains out front as well.  The building itself is made of a pinkish precast concrete complimenting the colors of the sandstone mountains surrounding the area. There are drop dead art glass motifs running throughout with massive stained glass images designed and fabricated by Holman Studio of local succulents, bearclaw poppies (only found in Utah), and Indian paintbrush. The stone and tile patterns complement the layered structures of the local mountains and the exterior is capped with a running braid of raised cottonwood leaves. The interior wallcoverings feature simple but elegant paintings of swirls of local vines and flowers and leaves. Oddly enough, due to expansive soils on the site, the temple had to be placed on a deep stone-pier foundation with imported soil to move the Temple out of the existing water table.  Frankly, it’s beautiful inside.

There are now 17 operating temples in Utah with four  under construction in Saratoga Springs, Layton, Taylorsville and Orem. The main Temple in Salt Lake City was scheduled to reopen next year but the church has said the project won’t be completed until 2026. After being damaged by an earthquake the Church decided to do a complete renovation and seismic upgrade to the Temple itself and re-design Temple Square and create a better visitor experience.

Traditionally people like to wait until Spring to put their home on the market. If they have kids, they might be out of school in May so April is a good time to go to market. Right now there are so few homes available that it’s a really great time to sell because of low competition and still multiple offer battles.

To get ready to sell here are some tips:

Enhance curb appeal by freshening up landscaping, planting colorful flowers and even give the front door a new coat of paint. Replace or clean your mailbox if it’s by the door.

Embrace spring cleaning! Declutter, organize and pack. Depersonalize your interior spaces so buyers can picture themselves in your space.

Highlight outdoor spaces by staging your patio or deck with cozy furniture that invites outdoor entertaining in the summertime. Optimize natural light and clean windows. We always have your windows cleaned before listing at no charge-makes such a difference!

Buyers will have inspections, so you might want to get ahead of the game and get a radon test and sewer scope to ensure there are no issues that will bite you while you’re under contract. Even a home inspection can help deter problems. Call if you need referrals for inspectors!

Back in 1998 a revolutionary concept was offered to Utah homebuyers: co-housing. The notion was based on similar projects in Europe where homes/condos/townhomes are clustered around each other to create ‘intentional community’. Wasatch Commons (@1400 South 1500 West) was built on 4.5 acres in the Glendale neighborhood with 26 townhomes. I was the original listing agent for the project and trying to explain the idea to folks was a challenge for the most part, however some people not only understood the idea immediately, but they also wanted IN!  Why?

Co-housing comes in different forms around the world. Here, the townhomes in WC have different floorplans, and you own your unit (although some owners rent out their units). You must park on the west edge of the community and walk-in to your property; thus you pass by your neighbors front doors every day along the beautiful winding paths in the project. There is a common house with guest rooms for owners’ guests and where there are regular shared meals and events for the owners and tenants who live there, a workshop and car repair bay, an exercise room, community fruit trees and garden pots, play areas for kids and lovely green spaces throughout. They are self-managed, and everyone has a say in how things are run throughout the year.

Since 1998 there have been no other co-housing projects built in Utah to my knowledge, and that’s a shame. The only new idea for a co-housing-like project is a tiny home village by the Other Side Academy planned for the northwest side of the Salt Lake Valley. However, the concept is gaining traction around the country since housing is so expensive. Culdesac in Tempe, Arizona has opened and is getting rave reviews. It’s all built around the idea of no cars and that people are happier in a walkable neighborhood. Residents get free rides on the Metro (a station is a short walk away), 15% off Lyft rides, Bird scooters are on site and there’s 1,000+bike parking spotsl. It is a rental community with studios to three bedroom units. There are 50+ shared courtyards that meander around the grounds with two plus miles of bike and footpaths, zero square feet of asphalt, 700 apartments and 44,000 square feet of retail and amenities for small, local businesses, a pool and dog park. Each unit has a washer and dryer, plenty of natural light and is very pet friendly. It’s billed as a ‘5-minute city’ because you’re only minutes away from an urban market, a bike shop and cozy places to eat. There are firepits, BBQ grills and water features (but the landscaping is desert/low water), and hammocks scattered around the 17 acres there.

Back here all we need is a futuristic developer and land for the next co-housing project. The time is now for ideas and actions for affordable housing options in Utah’s future!

“Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink” is from a poem from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge. Imagine living with a view of the Great Salt Lake and knowing that all that water south of Willard Bay is undrinkable. It might gnaw at you knowing that being surrounded by or within close proximity of it you can’t benefit much from the salty water except to rely on helping it to create great powdery snow in our winter and create the random ‘lake effect’ that boosts some storms into mega downpours.

This phrase also may relate to residents of Summit County, especially those living in Oakley City. Although there are lakes and rivers surrounding the town that saw massive spring runoff from the Unitah mountains which increased the flow during last year’s massive snowpack, it’s only now that the area is seeing more water.  You see, back in May of 2021 the Oakley City Council was forced to adopt the following moratorium: Ordinance 2021-6: “Moratorium on all building permit approvals requiring a new connection or extension of an existing connection to city water and a moratorium on installation of new landscaping that requires irrigation with the city culinary water.” The town leaders had to stop all building permits of land improvements such as new homes because the multi-year drought leading up to 2021 created a very scary situation for the area and they wanted to avoid a potential water crisis which could have created a scarcity for the city’s current residents. The Council was also worried that if they did run out of water there wouldn’t be any way to fight fires in and around the town. Projects that already had permits were allowed to continue but no permits requiring water connections were allowed for six months, and the Council had to extend the moratorium longer than expected to find more resources. Residents were encouraged to restrict water use to outdoor watering every other day to help ease the demand.

Fast forward to November 2023 and the City Council has now lifted its moratorium on new development and is now allowing new water hookups/permits. How so? It appears that a very deep well has been found and the City will be able to tap into it come June of 2024. Officials believe that this new source of water will quadruple its current supply to the approximately 1,500 residents of the town.

This pause in construction was unique in modern days to a Utah town but many Western states and towns have also had to restrict building permits, such as communities in and around Monterey, California. Luckily we had a ton of snow last year and a good spring so drought has ended in much of California, Nevada and Utah for now. As the locals here say, ‘Fast and pray’, or PRAY FAST that we have a great snow year!