By Sara Milano | [email protected]

The city of Millcreek has quadrupled the number of parks in its jurisdiction overnight– but not by building or landscaping. At their Nov. 14 meeting, the City Council approved a resolution to acquire three parks originally belonging to Salt Lake County.

“This resolution approves an interlocal cooperative agreement with Salt Lake County to transfer three of the four parks that we own in Millcreek to the city,” said Mayor Jeff Silvestrini. He explained further that “this is really just an oversight, apparently the county never actually formally adopted an agreement to transfer these parks even though they’ve been a part of our city fabric since we incorporated.”

The three parks in question are Fortuna Park, near the Olympus Hills neighborhood, Sunnyvale Park off of 700 West, and Canyon Rim Park located near the entrance to Parley’s Canyon.

These parks had essentially fallen under the control of Millcreek when they incorporated in 2016, “we’ve been paying for them, to maintain and improve them. We’ve actually put in a ton of money to Sunnyvale Park.”

According to the city newsletter, when Millcreek became its own city “it became immediately apparent that Sunnyvale Park, located at 4013 S. 700 West, was in dire need of improvements. This park serves a large immigrant and refugee community.”

Since applying for and winning two grants for improvements at Sunnyvale Park, Millcreek has installed a community garden, futsal courts, lighting, playground equipment, and a refurbished pavilion.

This interlocal agreement does not include Scott Avenue Park, which continues to be operated by Salt Lake County. Council members remain in talks with the county about gaining management of the park, which is designated as a flood control area.

The one stipulation “the county has requested is… that these parks will remain public parks in perpetuity, and we promise we’re not going to ever sell them off or subdivide them for development,” Silvestrini assured residents.