SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Inland Port Authority officials agreed this week to direct $5 million toward a pair of key issues within Salt Lake City’s west side.
The agency reallocated half of the money to Salt Lake City for public safety improvements, and the other half to the Utah Department of Natural Resources for wetland conservation within the city’s Northwest Quadrant.
“The message here is simple: The Northwest Quadrant is not just a place to do business — it’s a place where people live, work, and raise families,” said Abby Osborne, chairwoman of the Port Authority’s board, in a statement on Tuesday. “We are investing real dollars to make those neighborhoods safer and to protect the Great Salt Lake that defines this region.”
Utah plans to use its share of the money to acquire lands around the Great Salt Lake for conservation, according to Ben Hart, executive director of the Utah Inland Port Authority. It will support habitat and water quality improvements, as well as other elements to protect the Great Salt Lake, added Joel Ferry, director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources.
Ferry added that matching money would help acquire lands that are threatened by development in the area. The Inland Port board met a day before members of the Salt Lake City Planning Commission heard a proposal to convert agricultural land into light industrial space in one of the latest development plans in and around the Northwest Quadrant.
While it wasn’t immediately clear how Salt Lake City would use its share of funding, it prioritized public safety along the Jordan River and the west side as part of a new public safety plan that Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall released last year.
“By directing funding to public safety and conservation, we’re ensuring that growth delivers real and lasting benefits for our communities and the Great Salt Lake,” the mayor said, in reaction to the new funding.
The new funds come from various sources. About $3.52 million comes from money dedicated to economic development and community mitigation projects. Utah lawmakers passed a bill in 2022 that requires the authority use a portion of tax differentials on environmental mitigation causes and community mitigation projects for neighborhoods near the inland port.
Another $1.48 million came from money that was initially slated to mitigate contaminated liquid in landfills.
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