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Show r ,., , -, 1 On The Bountiful Shopping Center: Some Yes, Some Wo BOUNTIFUL Some. people favor a Bountiful downtown mall, some don't. But regardless of their opinions, emotions have been kept in check throughout most of the "town meetings" being held throughout the community. "WE'VE HAD a good series of meetings," commented Mayor Dean S. Stahle, who also serves as chairman of the Bountiful Redevelopment Agency Agen-cy (RDA) board of directors. "We've had a lot of good input from a cross-section of citizens and if nothing no-thing else we have started people thinking. I feel the meetings have been very beneficial and hopefully we've gained some new insight as well as different dif-ferent opinions from those who have responded," he said. THE LAST of five weekly town meetings held in the junior high school's throughout the city was held last night (Tuesday) at Mueller Park Jr. High. But Mayor Stahle vowed to hold more community-type meetings by taking some city council problems (or meetings) to the neighborhoods. ABOUT 75 persons attended last week's RDA public meeting at South Davis Jr. High, a good turnout consid ering the school is located on the "fringe area" of the city. Following a 90-minute introduction of a proposed mall concept for dow n-town n-town Bountiful, residents spoke out both for and against a mall. GREG WARD was the first to oppose the mall concept saying "No one needs this mall because there are other malls close enough to serve the community." He also cited the EDAW Report which suggested that a "town-center" "town-center" concept be used for redevelopment rede-velopment of the city's downtown area. Nora Stringham described the mall concept as a "paradox" and then defined de-fined paradox as "being something that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense." GEORGE RACKHAM said he would favor a privately-owned mall but suggested that the mall, if built, be something different than the ordinary mall and include a number of specialty shops. Other Bountiful residents, including Kelly Matthews, Jex Hepworth and Rulon Bright, said they would favor redevelopment of the downtown area CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 f , On Downtown Bountiful I Shopping Center Some Yes, Some No Continued from page one . if the development would not seriously hamper the business of downtown merchants. f V i MR. MATTHEWS said there should soon be an upsurge in the local eco-arf'nomy eco-arf'nomy and a continuing population lfr( growth that would warrant a major de-. de-. Tvelopment, possibly a new mall. I .in Mr. Hepworth, who said he owns a l,el'plot of property within the proposed j1 mall site, suggested that 80 percent of the shopping is done by women and in that they should have more of a say in g a: what a mall would have to offer. Iliac . ,k MR. BRIGHT then told the group ,arj that he can "buy almost anything he t isr wants in Bountiful and there is no wl- reason to go to Salt Lake City or other 'j-1, malls to do their shopping. "We should . support our existing merchants," he ist said- mrr. Mrs. Beverly Carmack said she is ce concerned about the future of downtown down-town merchants if a mall is built at the proposed site east of Main Street be-j be-j j tween Center and 400 N. urit sea "I'VE SEEN what has happened to downtown Salt Lake City stores because be-cause of the ZCMI and Crossroads Malls and I don't want this to happen to our (Bountiful) merchants," she said. ) Several others spoke both for and against a proposed downtown mall and all in attendance were asked to fill out a brief form expressing their desires. r THE MEETING opened with the mayor, each council member and RDA director V.A. (Kit) Bettilyon explaining explain-ing the feasibility pros and cons of a m proposed mall, how a mall would be )n financed, sales tax created by other (existing) malls, use of the increment :s tax by the RDA, and the impact of a 0 proposed mall on downtown mer-;d mer-;d chants and residents living within the proposed mall site. Proponents of a downtown mall j. emphasize the need for increasing the 3f city's property and sales tax base by 52 providing adequate shopping facilities ar in Bountiful so that local residents will not go into Salt Lake City or to the Layton Hills malls to do their shopping. shop-ping. COUNCILMAN Paul Allen noted that Bountiful's sales tax revenue is currently just over $1 million a year. "But we are losing another $500,000 in potential sales tax revenue that is leaking leak-ing to other malls," he said. "We wouldn't expect to get all of this leakage back, but we could expect to get nearly $350,000, which with an increase in the property tax would amount to nearly $400,000," said Councilman Allen, noting that it will take this amount for Bountiful to maintainand main-tainand not increase its services during next fiscal year. "WITHOUT additional revenue from some source, the city would have to reduce services or increase taxes just to maintain the services being offered now." Taking the opposition to a mall, Councilman Keith Barton questioned the need for a Bountiful mall when existing ex-isting malls are failing. "THERE WERE six stores in the Five-Points Mall that have filed suit because of problems there," he said. "And seven businesses in the Layton Mall have gone out of business since the first of the year. Ogden and Newgate New-gate Malls in Ogden are also in financial finan-cial trouble." Councilman Barton criticized some malls for not giving preferential treatment treat-ment to local businesses moving into the mall and for some malls that have offered concessions such as 'ower rent or lease-free space to anchor stores just to get them into the mall facility. "EVEN AT today's rates, it would cost a shop owner $20 to $25 per square foot to lease a small store space," said Councilman Barton. However, Gary Machan, designated developer for a mall should a mall proposal be approved by the RDA board, said Bountiful merchants would get first option of mall space and at a reduced lease cost. |
