ECC Top Ten

The ECC utilized social media, surveys, and various community-based meetings to gather this initial list of what matters most to its membership.
The ongoing intent of this effort is to better understand and therefore focus community service work on the immediate needs of the community
as a whole.
With better understanding, core resources can be applied in a more efficient way across areas such as training/education, meeting topics/speakers,
research, organizational outreach, and working with governmental agencies, etc.
This level of focus allows the ECC to work smarter to continue the evolution of this vibrant community while solving challenges it faces.
The ECC will be conducting monthly surveys of its membership that identifies the topics of most interest and importance to its members.
The top ten priority list is distributed to its membership and committees, to City Representatives, as well as any additional groups that find this
information helpful.

1.Planning for and mitigating direct and ancillary
impacts from the growth plans of our beloved
University of Utah.

This includes a need for better planning towards the extensive
growth plans and need for student/faculty/staff housing for the
University of Utah that cannot be reasonably accommodated by
this community without it being completely destroyed.
Topics include rezoning and tearing into the neighborhood with
large complexes, parking, party houses/noise/clean-up/upkeep
of housing stock/impact on quality of life/sleep/large number of
students upwards of 200 in the streets at 2 in the morning
creating an unsafe atmosphere, excess unrelated people living in
unsafe/unhealthy conditions, lack of enforcement, impact on
adjoining property values, taking away low and moderate
housing for families and the workforce. Repeat: The extensive
need is causing a loss of naturally occurring affordable housing
for families, and the work force. Gentrification of the ECC area
with displacement targeting complexes where senior citizens
have been located in various apartment complexes for more than
15-20 years are evicted with three days’ notice to meet the
student housing needs of the U (at double previous rate).
The students need an area to function as a “college town”
complete with bonfires and party activities ON CAMPUS.
Without being provided a location for these types of activities,
they are migrating into the family neighborhood destroying
quality of life, property/property values, and sleep.

2. The ECC Urban Forest – The ECC has a significant amount
of old growth/large trees in the area that are part of the city
Urban Forest inventory. These friends contribute to cleaner air
by filtering, storing carbon, providing cooling, boosting mental
health, and filtering water to name a few.
The urban forest in the ECC is fragile and at risk due to the
drought, lack of understanding by property owners, willful
disregard from many rental properties and construction projects
(that are given the green light to destroy large trees without
consequence if they plant several “lollipop” trees to replace the
numbers), flip the strip programs that do not discuss the trees in
the same documents, etc. While planting all trees is a benefit,
smaller species are not able to store the carbon provided by
large trees and will require a significant amount of time to reach
a level of helpful maturity.

3. Extensive number of Apartment buildings that are not
up to code/ not being inspected causing dangerous
conditions for tenants and neighbors alike. Several large
apartment fires in the area have ensued. The building
inspections schedule changed from a 3 year to 4 cycle but even
this is behind.
Legalized and not legalized houses with more than three units
per house and many more than three persons per unit are
functioning in the area without being on the inspection radar.

4. Rezoning and exception approvals. The ECC has
patchwork zoning. We are not opposed to development in the
right locations. We call this acupuncture development. This
level of involvement and planning is critical to avoid the loss of
what is most precious to the neighborhood and the city as a
whole. All types of development are possible in many areas of
the neighborhood. Many developers seek to avoid areas zoned
appropriately for their development and instead seek to tear into
the neighborhood. Negative impacts are realized when added
properties are rezoned or exceptions made that do not follow the
master plan or without adequate analysis. This becomes very
unfair to residents and business owners who purchased and
invested in an area based on existing zoning. This is a major loss
of diversity to this community that has organically grown the
very diversity the city seeks to establish in its mission.

5. Lack of Police Presence in the ECC – Crime, Break ins,
car thefts, homeless sleeping in neighborhood yards, property
damage, drug houses, threats etc.

6. Pedestrian and Bike Safety ECC hotspots The ECC
strongly supports SLC taking a new approach to walkability by
focusing more on the Pedestrian Experience. We support
alternative transport such as bikeways; however, we feel we all
need to focus more on making Salt Lake City walkable. The
ECC has an extensive number of seniors adults walking the
neighborhood. We would like to see the same level of emphasis
placed on walking paths. This includes concentrating on safety,
snow removal at intersections, bus stops, sidewalk placement,
hazards and width, sidewalk protection next to arterials,
pedestrian safety devices such as City sponsored flags, flashers

or hawk lights at known neighborhood hot spots, a focus on
shade, etc.

7. Parks and Open Space – Hosting the highest number density
in the city that includes a significant percentage of lower
income, elderly population, the ECC needs additional Parks and
Open Space. Currently the city counts park strips in the open
space percentage for each district. With a great many park strips
being transformed into raised beds and rock landscaping, even
this percentage has diminished. The acquisition, preservation
and maintenance of Parks and Open Space to the percent that
meets the goals of the Community Master Plans and meets
recommended national standards.

8. Lighting – Added lighting in critical pedestrian and bike hot
spots to ensure safety.

9. Cost cutting measures, audits, efficiency, etc. within
City Government. The cost of living in Salt Lake City and in
these times is difficult. The ECC average income is seen as “low
income” on the federal income scale and a large extent of our
neighborhood is on a fixed income. The ECC strongly supports
Salt Lake City Corp.’s work to improve its quality of service
while working to improve the management and efficiency of
government in order to keep those services affordable for
taxpayers.

10. Aging underground infrastructure with concern about
capacity as the area continues to be pushed in density.