Salt Lake Tribune, Date: February 2, 2006 Section: Utah Edition: Final Page: B8
Pioneer Craft House is sold for $530,000
The Granite School District Board of Education has approved the sale of the Pioneer Craft House for $530,000. A group consisting of the Utah Open Lands Conservation Association, the Pioneer Craft House Association and Salt Lake County purchased the five buildings and 1.68 acres it sits on at 3271 S. 500 East. The board also approved the sale of 4.7 acres of land at 3700 S. 300 East for $1.24 million to Professional Brokers. The board also approved the purchase of .43 acres of land at 2468 S. State St. for $610,000.
-- Sheena McFarland (c) 2006 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved.
Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT) Date: January 29, 2006 Section: Utah Edition: Final Page: B6
Vote set on Pioneer Craft House Cost of preservation:
A nonprofit group wants to buy the building in South Salt Lake for $530,000 Cathy McKitrick The Salt Lake Tribune SOUTH SALT LAKE -- Proponents of the Pioneer Craft House, a well-used community center and historic site, hope the for-sale signs out front can soon come down. The nonprofit Utah Open Lands, acting on behalf of the Pioneer Craft House, recently offered the Granite School District $530,000 to take the property at 500 E. 3300 South off its hands. On Tuesday, the school board will give an answer. "We're hoping to get in on the next round of ZAP funding," says Jim Davis, member of Pioneer's board of trustees, which was organized in 2004 to breathe new life into the beleaguered facility. Applications for recreation funding from ZAP -- Salt Lake County's Zoo, Arts & Parks tax -- must be submitted by Feb. 3. Davis says Pioneer board members will ask for $700,000 to purchase the property and refurbish the facility. "We want to be on the side of the angels, so to speak, and get the property under contract with the school district by the time we submit our application," says Davis. The cash-strapped Granite School District put the Pioneer Craft House up for sale in August because it could no longer afford to pay its utility and maintenance bills, which cost several thousand dollars per year. If sold as commercial property, the Pioneer center could net the district about $900,000. This piece of property, however, is South Salt Lake's only historic zone. Former South Salt Lake zoning administrator Larry Gardner says the likelihood of the land being rezoned to commercial is slim to none. "South Salt Lake has the mind-set to increase home ownership so [the city] would not be in favor of establishing another commercial corridor there," says Gardner, adding that all adjacent property is zoned residential. The Pioneer center dates back to 1847 and has Utah's best puppet collection and a trove of other old treasures. It has become quite a working school, Gardner says, and "the value to the community is far greater the way it is." Davis is passionate about saving the facility -- not only for its Utah history and century-old redwood and sequoia trees, but also for the wide array of arts and crafts classes offered there. "It's the oldest continually used school in the state, the birthplace of Holladay, East Millcreek, South Salt Lake and Granite School District, and has traditionally provided education to preserve weaving, tatting, stained-glass making, silversmithing and more," says Davis. "There's nowhere else to learn these lost skills." A decade ago, 12 major recreational facilities in Salt Lake Valley reaped millions in ZAP revenues, which were funded by a one-cent tax levied on every $10 spent in Salt Lake County. Voters recently approved a 10-year extension of the ZAP tax, and ZAP Program Manager Vicki Bourns says an estimated $30 million could be tapped over the next 10 years to fund recreation-related projects. With the reauthorization of the ZAP tax, Davis explains, voters expanded recreational support to historic and skill-building facilities. "For the first time, it allows programs like ours to be considered on the same basis as swimming pools and ice rinks," Davis says.
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