The proposal was for the city to sell the property, where a playground and parking lot currently sit, for $1.37 million. A BYU representative at the meeting said the short-term plan for the property would be to use it as overflow for the Oakridge parking lot. The city said the money would go toward replacing aging city-owned playgrounds at Kiwanis Park.

The verdict from the council was that the benefit of selling the land would not outweigh the cost of losing it.

“I don’t care if it becomes a rose garden or parking lots or more playground, it’s very valuable space,” Councilwoman Katrice MacKay said. “And I definitely want to keep this one.”

Added Councilman Craig Christensen: “Playgrounds come and go. Prime land like this does not. This will not come back.”

The land, at approximately 1051 E. Birch Lane, is part of a complicated ownership history between Provo City, BYU and the Provo City School District. Provo City acquired the 2-acre property as part of Kiwanis Park in 1948 and leased it to the school district in 1978 under the condition that the district would build parking and a playground on the land to support Oakridge School, which was operated by the school district but sat on BYU property, according to Provo City liaison Tara Riddle.

When Oakridge ceased operation in 2004, Riddle said the school district continued to use the playground and parking for Wasatch Elementary, in contradiction of the agreement and effectively terminating the lease. When BYU bought Wasatch Elementary in 2021 and took possession of the land in 2025, she said it assumed it also owned the parking lot and playground.

“They, in good faith, have been using the property as the school district was using it, assuming that they had the same rights, not understanding that if it was no longer being used for the school, that it would revert back to the city,” Riddle said.

BYU’s request to buy the land comes at a time of a parking crunch for the university. During reconstruction of the Abraham O. Smoot Administration Building, the administrative offices temporarily moved to the Wasatch Elementary building, increasing the need for parking on the school’s east side. The construction of a campus music building previously took away parking east of the law school.

MacKay said she has heard from several BYU employees who told her “parking is a nightmare” and that many people want to see BYU build parking garages. Councilwoman Becky Bogdin added that the university needs to stop building out and start building up.

“A lot of the feedback that we’re getting is that BYU needs to start staying within their footprint,” she said.

The BYU representative in attendance at the meeting said the school has not built new garages because they cost approximately $46,000 per stall for an underground lot and $30,000 per stall for an above-ground lot.

While selling the land is no longer on the table, a few council members said they would still be open to leasing the land to BYU in the short term to help the school accommodate additional parking needs while the administration building is rebuilt.

“I heard from a lot of constituents that they would be open, in the spirit of being good neighbors, to temporarily leasing the land, as long as it was not altered,” Councilman Jeff Whitlock said.