Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Salt Lake City unveiled a $18.4 million redesign plan for Pioneer Park.
- The redesign aims to improve safety and attractiveness, addressing low ratings and safety concerns.
- Construction may start in September 2025, impacting the location of the farmers market temporarily.
SALT LAKE CITY — Pioneer Park often becomes Salt Lake City's busiest open space every Saturday morning during the summertime, as the Downtown Salt Lake City Farmers Market attracts thousands of visitors every weekend.
However, it struggles during other times of the year to bring in a regular audience.
It's currently rated 3.8 out of 5 stars on Google Reviews, making it one of the city's lowest-rated parks among 13 comparable open spaces, largely bogged down over safety concerns and complaints about lack of activities. The others carry an average of 4.4 stars.
That could soon change, though, through a massive redesign that is nearing its final planning stages. Salt Lake City's Parks and Public Lands Department unveiled its proposed site plan late last week, showcasing a tree-heavy design with a vast open area in the middle of the 10-acre open space along with new amenities that aim to improve safety and make it a destination.
Nancy Monteith, a landscape architect for Salt Lake City Public Lands, told KSL.com on Monday that the design of the $18.4 million project is about 70% complete. It's expected to be presented to the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission next month before a final design is expected to be completed by the summer of 2025, setting the stage for a contractor to carry out the project.
"We've been talking about improving Pioneer Park for a really long time, and we now finally have the funds to make it happen," she said. "So we're really excited about being able to do that."
Construction could begin as early as September 2025 and potentially last through a large chunk of 2026, which will also lead to a new farmers market format while that's underway.
A new Pioneer Park
The proposed design intentionally aims to combat the park's two largest critiques while building on what generally drives people to the park, Monteith explains.
Pioneer Park site plan
Features of the Pioneer Park improvement project include:
- A new promenade for food trucks near a new garden area by its northern end.
- Upgrades to the existing dog park by the park's northeast corner.
- A mist fountain plaza near the promenade and garden spaces.
- More plants and trees to boost the city's urban forest.
- A pavilion for events in the middle of the park.
- Public restrooms, space for maintenance storage and offices for Salt Lake City park rangers stationed at the park.
- A new all-abilities playground.
- Six new pickleball courts and a new full-size basketball court, both with night-time lighting.
The park ranger kiosk will allow for safety to be present at the park for longer periods, while the design leans toward Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles by improving the park's beauty, identity and placemaking — and making it more active. In essence, the city wants to make it a destination with more people interested, which can deter criminal activity from taking place.
Salt Lake leaders initially allocated nearly $3.5 million in impact fees — fees that developers pay for every new project in the city that go toward public benefits like parks — in 2019. The money predated a vision plan that was released in 2022, outlining what the 126-year-old park could look like in the future.
Its budget jumped by another $10 million through a $67.5 million sales tax bond that city leaders authorized in 2022. These allowed public lands to carry out some projects in an initial phase, but city officials allocated about another $5 million toward project construction that could allow the construction of all the changes in one swoop.
Pioneer Park has both city and federal historic designations because it has cultural significance dating back to August 1847 — well before it became a public park in 1898. Thus, planners will present the proposed changes to the city's landmark commission to receive a certificate of appropriateness before planning is complete.
Construction is expected to begin as early as September 2025 and take nine to 12 months to complete, barring any delays.
Farmers market changes
The project's timeline will likely have impacts on the Downtown Salt Lake City Farmers Market, but event organizers are already taking steps to plan a way to keep the market in the same area during construction.
Planners have kept the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance and Urban Food Connections of Utah in the loop on what to expect. Once construction begins, the popular event could be headed onto the roads outside of the park, essentially closing down a pair of roads for a weekly street festival,
"The farmers market, during construction, will be on 300 South and 400 West," Monteith said. "That allows them to still be in the heart of downtown; they will benefit from the shade and trees; and they get to try out a new configuration."
That configuration could remain into the first half of the market's 2026 before it returns to the park, depending on how long it takes to complete the project. However, event organizers believe the planned changes could keep people at the market longer with more reason to linger in the park.
A better future
That's ultimately the future Monteith hopes for as Pioneer Park enters a new chapter in its history. She and city officials already believe the park is important not just because of the market, but because it's the closest green space for a downtown core that already lacks green space as it becomes more residential.
Other projects could also make it easier for residents to access. Salt Lake City's 400 South Viaduct Trail and Green Loop plans could improve biking and walking access to the park or surrounding area within the next decade, while Utah Transit Authority's TechLink TRAX Project could ultimately make it easier to reach the park by light rail, too.
By the time those end, Pioneer Park could have a different perception. Monteith said the project could elevate the park into one of the city's more desirable open spaces in the future by adding reasons to go to it.
"Once you get that level of activity, it makes a big difference," she said.
