Kearns business owners not all hot on renewal

Tag : Tube Fabrication
Efforts to transform this township's deterioratingwarehouse district into an iconic entryway of office complexes,high-rise condos and perhaps even a TRAX station could face aformidable opponent: property owners.
The Kearns Community Council rolled out plans Monday to bring abustling business district to the area near 4700 South and 5600West that is now home to dozens of acres of overgrown weeds, agingwarehouses and chain-link fences.
But the private presentation, reserved for impacted landowners,elicited more grumbles than grins.
"So you are going to take all the industry in Kearns," said RandyLujan of L&L Erection and Fabrication, "and pretty much kill it."
That's the fear of many entrepreneurs within Kearns' warehousedistrict, who responded explosively Monday to a redevelopment planthat someday might phase out their industrial properties and createa "Ninth and Ninth"-style commercial/residential development.
The vision also includes space for a "transitional" industrial parkand higher-density housing.
Salt Lake County hasn't signed off on those plans yet. But itsconsultant believes an urban-renewal area - allowing the communityto reinvest a portion of any new property taxes on the 75-acre siteto help pay for roads, curbs and other infrastructure - would suitthe property well.