New high school construction expected to impact Sugar House Park

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Highland High School construction will affect some Sugar House Park access beginning as early as this month.
• A new retaining wall, sewer line and softball field are planned.
• Salt Lake City School District to cover costs of projects.

SALT LAKE CITY — Construction on the new Highland High School is already underway, but it will soon include some impacts on its western neighborhood: the popular Sugar House Park.

Those impacts include projects that will permantly change the boundary between Sugar House Park and Highland High School, while other projects will temporarily impact the park's road and one of its busiest sports areas.

New retaining wall and sewer line

A section of the park that borders the school near 1700 East and Parleys Creek will be closed as early as this month as construction begins on a new retaining wall, according to the Sugar House Park Authority. The new wall will be located along the 0.64 acres of land that the Salt Lake City School District owns, but is situated on land that the park has maintained for years.

The project isn't so simple, though, since there's a 40-foot grade change in the area. The district and park authority ultimately agreed on a "hybrid concept" that calls for a regrading of the hill in the area to make way for the wall. "Several" trees will be removed, as well as eight horseshoe pits and a concrete volleyball pad.

"The horseshoe pits and volleyball court were funded by federal grants from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, so the park authority is required to replace the lost recreation opportunities in Sugar House Park," park officials noted.

The district agreed to pay the park authority $97,500 to potentially relocate the amenities, but park officials said Monday that they are still deciding whether to relocate the outgoing features or replace them with other outdoor recreation features. They note that the park has four other volleyball pads, but no other horseshoe pits.

Crews are also set to begin work on a new sanitary sewer line connection that requires a 1,743-square-foot parcel of land within Sugar House Park as early as this month. It's expected to impact a section of the park road and space directly west of Highland High School's current softball field.

Construction of the new line is to be completed within six months, while the new retaining wall is to be completed within two years of the start date, according to the agreement. The deal also requires the district to restore areas of the park damaged by the new sewer line.

Both projects are included within the full plan to rebuild the school, which is expected to cost about $300 million. Salt Lake City residents voted in 2024 to approve a $730 million general obligation bond for the rebuild, which also includes the cost of a new West High School, as well as a few other new district properties.

The new Highland High School is expected to be completed by 2031, according to the district.

A new softball field

Sugar House Park's multiuse field is slated to be closed in June for renovations that will prepare the field to serve as a temporary home for Highland High School's softball team, as its field is impacted by construction.

The project calls for a new backstop that was built for baseball about 25 years ago, but the space has been primarily used for soccer, kickball and lacrosse in recent years.

New features will also be built, including new fencing, dugouts, shade structures and a new infield. The Rams plan to use the new field for their 2027 season, February and May that year. It may also use it during the 2028 season, depending on when its new field is ready.

The park won't close the adjacent Mount Olympus pavilion area during construction, but it won't accept reservations this summer either. It will be open on a first-come, first-served basis for anyone willing to deal with the construction impacts. Visitors are urged to be cautious near any construction zones.

Once complete, the field will be available for public reservations through the Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation website, when not used by the softball team. The district also agreed to cover the costs of the new park field.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Carter Williams

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Carter Williams is a reporter for KSL. He covers Salt Lake City, statewide transportation issues, outdoors, the environment and weather. He is a graduate of Southern Utah University.