Donner Trail Park : GO Bond Project
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Project Description
Donner Trail Park is a 14.27 acre park in the East Bench neighborhood. Long enjoyed for its stunning views of the City and the nearby mountains, it will be receiving investments to better reflect neighborhood needs and unique history.
Donner Trail Park has received funding from three different funding sources. Each has been approved by the Salt Lake City Council, voters, or both and must be used in accordance with their original intent. The funding sources were combined into one project to reduce construction impacts.
- GO Bond Funding for Park Reimagination: SLC voters approved the Parks Bond in November 2022. As part of the bond, each city council district received $1.5 million to enhance parks.
- CIP Funding for Memorial Tree Grove: An additional $434,000 from the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) is dedicated to creating a Memorial Tree Grove within the park.
- GO Bond Art Allocation: A small percentage (1.5%) of the GO Bond is allocated for art installations across several parks in the city, including Donner Trail Park.
Project Details
Project Location
2903 Kennedy Dr, Salt Lake City, UT 84108
Project Manager
Kira Johnson
Project Status
Evaluating feedback from second round of engagement
“Journey Lines” Art Piece
The design for Donner Trail Park will include an art piece by the artist Adam Kuby that helps reflect the diverse historical and contemporary journeys of those who have called Salt Lake City home. The art piece will be dispersed across the length of the park, a series of landscape berms and stones create passages that evoke the journey through mountains, canyons, and tight spaces that many people have taken to get to Salt Lake City since its founding. Engraved on the stones and the berm walls, abstract lines depict unique journeys to or from Salt Lake City, selected specifically for the artwork. Learn more by reading an article of the art piece.
Memorial Trees
As a part of this project, Salt Lake City will designate its first memorial tree grove. This memorial grove speaks to the community’s desire to honor and celebrate loved ones who have passed while adding needed tree canopy. As the grove becomes established with time, it becomes a source of beauty and wildlife habitat within the city. The grove provides the opportunity for community members to donate trees in memory of a loved one in a more structured, sustainable, and predictable way. Information on how to memorialize a loved one in this grove will be coming.
The tree species and locations have been carefully selected to maintain views and provide succession to existing trees.
Project Updates
Second Round of Public Input
From October 11 to November 4, 2024, staff conducted public engagement to gather feedback on the proposed designs.
We are reviewing the feedback and will make adjustments accordingly to finalize the designs. A summary report of the second round of engagement will be available once the analysis is complete.
In the meantime, read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) we heard during this process.
Community Engagement
First Round of Public Input
From May to September 2023, Public Lands conducted the first phase of community engagement to understand the community’s desires for the park and how they wish to see it improved. The feedback collected helped inform decisions on how to proceed with the design phase, and ultimately implementation of the collective vision.
Project Timeline
Develop the project’s scope of work.
First Public Input Opportunity: Identify the Public’s values and vision for the project.
Evaluate Public Feedback.
Develop Concept Designs.
Second Public Input Opportunity: Showcase concept plans for public evaluation and feedback.
Project Design & Document Review.
Contractor Bidding & Selection.
Construction.
Image Gallery
