Salt Lake City to turn ‘Hobbitville’ into public art park

An eclectic community known as Hobbitville in Salt Lake City will be turned into a public art park amid efforts to protect the property from development, city officials said.

The Salt Lake City Council approved a budget amendment last week increasing the city’s original $4 million offer for the property to $7.5 million, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Tuesday.

The plan was submitted last summer under former Mayor Jackie Biskupski’s administration and is aimed at preserving and maintaining Allen Park as a public art park and natural area.

The park runs along Emigration Creek near Westminster College and was established as a bird sanctuary in the 1930s by local surgeon George Allen, who was instrumental in the development of Hogle Zoo and Tracy Aviary, officials said.

The park got its nickname because it is rumored to be the home of dwarfs.

“There’s almost nothing like it in the city that has the potential to turn from private ownership to public lands,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said. “We heard loud and clear from Salt Lake residents that they would like the city to invest in this property.”

After hearing from a developer who planned to build more than 60 single and multifamily units on the property, residents began knocking on doors and collecting pledges with Utah Open Lands in a campaign to “Save Allen Park.”

The city would purchase the park through park impact fees and a contribution from the Public Utilities Department, Mendenhall said, adding that any donations “would make it possible to keep more of those parks impact fees available for other park uses.”

It could take about five years to fully incorporate the new park space and the property is likely to be closed to the public during that time, city officials said. Once completed, the park will be managed and maintained by Salt Lake City’s Division of Public Lands.

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