Copyright Salt Lake Tribune
Three soon-to-be-former Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint buildings are set to become full-time community hubs, chock-full of classes like sewing and driver education. The three structures — West Valley City’s Lighthouse Church, Hillsdale and Whitehall buildings — are due to be decommissioned by the Salt Lake Ctiy-headquartered church as the faith’s demographics change in Utah’s second-largest city. City leaders plan to convert the buildings into community resource centers, where education nonprofit MyHometown will run free classes for residents. A partnership among the city, the church and the nonprofit has already borne fruit: twice a week an average of 70-plus residents attend classes at a handful of the faith’s buildings in the suburb. “They are centers of connection,” city community engagement and culture director Craig Thomas told West Valley City Council members at a meeting last week. “They’re centers of value to the residents and the neighborhoods, and they’re providing a great resource to our community.” Thomas presented a deal to council members that would see the city lease the three buildings from the church for the next two years before buying them outright. He said the city’s ownership of the spaces would clear the path to run programming seven days a week. City Manager Ifo Pili also indicated that the city could opt to lease out parts of the buildings to other nonprofits or other religious congregations needing a space to worship. The Lighthouse Church, at 3900 S. 4000 West, the most distinctive building of the bunch, also sits on more than 6 acres, opening another field for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. All three structures feature gyms, too, a common element in Latter-day Saint meetinghouses. Council members questioned Thomas and Pili about how the city would pay for the buildings and their total cost, including maintenance and upgrades. The initial deal with the church to buy the buildings will total almost $7 million, Thomas said. Pili told the council that the city was still evaluating how it would pay for the structures, including searching for grants and other revenue, and said the two-year runway would help the government uphold the commitment. The city will pay $2,000 a month per building for the duration of its lease. The money paid in that two-year span would then be applied to purchase the meetinghouses. If, in two years, the city decides it doesn’t need the buildings or the demand for classes isn’t as high as organizers thought it would be, the government will be able to back out of the deal and forfeit an initial $50,000 fee per building. Thomas told council members that the MyHometown program already has more than 230 volunteers and that organizers were actively recruiting others. The plan presented to council members did not mention using the Lighthouse Church or a portion of it as a city history museum, despite some residents’ wishes to display the municipality’s past there. Sheri Biesinger, who runs a website called West Valley City History, said she’s had conversations with city leaders about the idea, but they so far have been reluctant to promise space for such a use. “You can’t give us, the second-largest city in Utah, and one of the few that doesn’t have a museum, any space?” said Biesinger. “So, I’m just baffled. I really am.” Biesinger said she and others have collected numerous artifacts of the city’s past and want to share them with residents. A petition urging city leaders to back a museum at the building has gathered over 1,200 signatures. Thomas said the city currently plans to preserve the Lighthouse Church in its entirety, including its distinctive steeple. Before the faith hands over the buildings, it would strip its signs and baptistries. Steeples for Whitehall, located at 3200 West and Whitehall Drive, and Hillsdale, at 2760 West and Lehi Drive, will come down as a part of the transaction. The deal is not yet final and will have to go back before the council for approval.
