By Meagan Hansen
A resolution in the Main Street Plaza issue may is in the works between Mayor Rocky Anderson, the Salt Lake City Council, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The city council will meet Tuesday night Jan. 7 to discuss an eight-part compromise proposed by Anderson last month.
'This is only a proposal,' Anderson stated. 'It is not a done deal. It is nothing on which I will act unilaterally, nor is it something that should be acted on at all until there is full, open, honest public disclosure and dialogue. It is also a proposal that will require agreement between the City Council and me.'
The proposal suggests that the easement be extinguished, which will give the church primary property ownership and control of the Plaza.
'The church will have free and clear title to the property,' said Joshua Ewing, spokesperson for the mayor. 'The City won''t be involved at all in limiting free speech on the property.'
The other main portion of the proposal calls for the church to donate 2.17 acres of property to the Salt Lake City. The property in West Salt Lake will be used to build an extension to the Sorenson Community Center.
'The mayor was looking for a way to make this a win-win situation,' Ewing said. 'This gives us a chance to do something that will benefit West Salt Lake.'
The Church of Jesus Christ has not formally accepted the agreement, but Church leaders see it as the basis for an agreement, said Bishop H. David Burton of the Presiding Bishopric at a city council meeting last month.
The plan is a compromise for Anderson and the city, but 'it will work because almost everyone is agreeing that it is a good idea and everyone one wants a solution,' Ewing said.
Early in December, Anderson created a proposal to end the disagreements over the Main Street Plaza.
The original plan, also known as the Time, Place and Manner Proposal, suggested the easement be divided between the Church and the City.
The division would have allowed the Church of Jesus Christ to have complete control over 90 percent of the Plaza, with substantial restrictions on conduct that would be permitted on the remaining 10 percent of the Plaza.
When it seemed that the church would reject the original proposal, Anderson came up with the new proposal that is currently undergoing public debate.
'We want time for the proposal to mature and for people to look at it,' said Mike Otterson, director of media relations for the Church of Jesus Christ. 'The mayor, the mayors office, and the city council need time to look at it and they are working out the details.'
While it seems that the city and the church are in agreement over the plaza, other parties involved are not pleased with the proposal.
'The proposal does not address the First Amendment or free speech issues of the Plaza,' said Dani Eyer, executive director of the ACLU of Utah. ' It has nothing to do with the issue at hand. To relinquish the easement for property on the west side is mixing apples and oranges.'
The ACLU feels that the property making up the Plaza is an important place in the city and that the church should not have complete control of the First Amendment issues on the plaza, Eyer said.
'The church is getting close to mudding its own waters by desiring to control its property so that other churches cannot proselyte there,' Eyer said. 'This is the exact opposite of what they want for their own missionaries.'
The ALCU is also feels there are other ways to get the community to rally behind the west side of Salt Lake and to work with the church without giving up the plaza.
'There still could be an innovative way to support the community needs but also to support community rights,' Eyer said. 'The city can and should craft those options.'
The National ACLU has stepped in and feels that the as the city gets to closer to relinquishing the plaza to the church, the city will also get close to bringing up establishment clause issues.
'The city could be going too far to protect the church from speech they find undesirable,' Eyer said. 'This could morph into a church and state issue.'
The Mayor has expressed concerns about the plan, but still feels that the proposal is the best solution the Main Street Plaza issue, Ewing said.
'Out of a difficult, divisive issue, we now have the opportunity to build a better, respectful, more compassionate community,' Anderson stated.