The great outdoors is one of Utah’s most defining features. But the small outdoors matter, too.
Researchers at the University of Utah recently analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data to see who has access to green spaces, like parks. They used the data to examine populations in much greater detail than before, something that set the study apart.
“We could focus on like, Nigerian descent versus, you know, Caribbean descent,” said Timothy Collins, a co-author on the study.
One new finding was that Asian Americans have substantially lower access to park space nationwide. The only groups above the national average for green space access were White, Native American and Pacific Islander.
In Salt Lake City, it’s a slightly different story. Tyler Murdock, deputy director of the Salt Lake City Public Lands Department, said parks are actually scattered more among the diverse areas of the city.
But Murdock said this doesn’t mean work is done.
“By 2040, we predict, through our planning right now, that we need a minimum of 90 to 100 acres of additional park land,” he said.
Not all parks are created equal. For example, areas with higher populations of kids need more playgrounds, Murdock said. And new amenities need space to be built.
That’s why, he said, the city is opening its first new regional park in over 60 years.
Glendale Regional Park is a new, 20-acre space that celebrated its grand opening Dec. 6. It’s built on land from an abandoned water park that closed in 2018.
Turner Bitton, chair of the Glendale Neighborhood Council, said the new green space is a model for how cities should engage with their communities.
“The community is excited to see a space that had essentially been dead since the water park left, be reactivated.”
The park, Bitton said, was designed with significant community involvement. He credits the community advisory committee, created to help with input, as a powerful force in making a park that everyone can be excited about.
One of its most unique elements, Bitton said, came from a resident’s childhood memories. At an early feedback session, a woman talked about growing up in Glendale. One of her first jobs was working as a lifeguard at the old water park.
“And she talked about what it was like in the evening as a lifeguard, when she would be up on top of the towers, sending people down the slides around sundown and looking out west and seeing the sunset from her neighborhood up on top of that hill.”
So the city added an observation platform to the plans. Now, Bitton said, people can watch the sunset and recapture some of what makes Glendale special.
But it’s not always easy to find land to transform into usable greenspace, especially not one as big as Glendale Regional Park. Murdock said the city knows there are still places that need parks, like Salt Lake City’s downtown.
In 2018, Murdock said, the city set aside around $2 million to purchase land, but nothing ever became available.
So, the public lands team started looking outside conventional spaces.
“The idea of the green loop, which you may have heard about,” Murdock said, “is essentially creating a downtown park in the street.”
He said finding unique ways to increase access to green spaces is crucial as Utah continues to grow, and that input from locals is just as important to find those areas as the city’s efforts.
Murdock said some of his favorite places, like the Fairmont fishing pond, started from community engagement.
