Redwood swap meet rezone plans move forward

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — The West Valley City Planning Commission is moving forward with plans to rezone the land used for the Redwood Drive-in Theatre and Swap Meet for new apartments.

Over 100 residents came to voice their opinion to save the swap meet at Wednesday night’s city meeting. However, the commission voted 4 to 2 in favor to move forward. 

Attorney Orlando Luna has an office two blocks from the drive-in and is representing many of the vendors who depend on the thousands of weekly foot traffic to survive.

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

“There are about 70,000 people that will go through their weekend to visit a swap meet on a weekly basis. It is really important for them because it can affect about 700 families or owners that participate in the swap meet selling their products,” he said.

More people expressed their concerns during the public comment. 

“There were about 60-page phone documents with all of the comments that the community made. I would say probably 99% of the comments were against it,” Luna said.

Luna said there’s still hope as the final say is now in the hands of West Valley City Council.

So far, the vendors have collected over 20,000 signatures to save the Redwood Drive-in Theatre and Swap Meet from going through with the rezoning plans.