Community rallies around Redwood Drive-In Theater

Listen live at 10:20 a.m.: We speak to a community member about what the loss of the drive-in would mean

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — Three years ago the Redwood Drive-In in West Valley City was under threat of closure by a home developer until the developer backed out due to community outcry. Now a new builder is trying to rezone the space once more.

Cristian Gutierrez, a long-time vendor at the Redwood Drive-In Swap Meet and moderator of their Facebook page, noticed a new request on West Valley City’s public bulletin board. Edge Homes submitted a petition to rezone the lot for medium-density housing.

Their proposed plan would turn much of the land into rows of townhomes.

But, many in the area are not happy with the proposal. Gutierrez is rallying community members Tuesday at the drive-in to stop the rezoning all over again.

“Go sign petitions so that I can take him to city council myself and we can get more emails, more numbers,” Gutierrez said, “and we can just send them off to the guy in charge of the rezoning.”

Redwood Drive-In Swap Meet supporters have taken to Facebook to encourage those who oppose the rezoning to contact the city and voice their opinions.

“It’ll be really sad if we lose the swap meet and the drive-in theater,” Gutierrez said. “We’ve been open since 1949, been over 70 years already.”

KSL NewsRadio has yet to hear from Edge Homes, the requestor on the public notice page, for comment.

Related: ‘End of an era’: Motor-Vu Drive-In will soon be demolished to make way for housing