The Historic Scott School Community Center at 3280 S. 540 East is closed for the summer to allow for improvements to its parking lot and walkways and installation of upgraded lighting and improved drainage. Programs normally housed at the former school and adjacent buildings have been moved to other city facilities.

“The parking lot was in pretty bad shape,” Neighborhoods Department Director Sharen Hauri said. “It just deteriorated over the last few years, and the design wasn't correct. They'll have the whole parking lot redone with accessible parking spaces and new sidewalks and new lighting. It's kind of a long time coming because it was just in bad shape.” 

The project, which is being funded by a Federal Housing and Urban Development community development block grant of $205,000, is expected to be complete in August. The parking lot project is actually a component of a year-long strategic plan by the city to turn the Scott School campus into a fully functioning comprehensive community center.

There are actually several buildings on the site. What is known as the Redwood Building, where the children’s programs are normally housed, was significantly renovated two years ago. A second, known as the Schoolhouse, was the home of art classes and pantry. Another, considered a cottage, was utilized by Mosaic for educational purposes.

“The goal for the [Scott School] community center’s future is have more art classes and have more things for the community to do there just like outdoor space with exhibits or something like that,” Hauri said. “We've got a little more time with the architects on that, but we've been trying to define what sorts of things we want to do there.” 

In addition to arts programming, Hauri hopes to develop an onsite historic interpretation honoring the legacy of the original Granite High School which was first housed there. She is applying for a Salt Lake County tourism grant to help fund the project.

“We just did the concept designs, and then we can go fundraise based on the cost of that construction and more,” she said. “It's going to be a relatively expensive project.”

The campus was purchased by the city from Granite School District in 2007. It has been home to several programs over the years. In recent years South Salt Lake Arts Council has provided art classes there, and community partners have hosted a resource pantry on site. City officials hope to be able to grow the arts council and its staff and provide offices and space on the campus for its programs, Hauri said.

“In the last few years, now that the library is built and so on, we realized that this is a really important place of history to us, and we can do something pretty special there,” she said. λ