By Spencer W. Belnap | [email protected] 

Many residents of Sugar House take great pride in their community. They value their neighborhood and actively involve themselves with its progress and growth. One such resident is Sally Barraclough, who has lived here for 35 years and has served as a Sugar House Community Council trustee since 2008. 

Barraclough is retired and currently the 3rd Vice Chair for the council, and represents the Wilford neighborhood area, which is south of 2700 South and runs from Highland Drive to Imperial Street. She is from Oregon, but her and her husband have called Salt Lake and this pocket of Sugar House home for over three decades now. 

“Sugar House is an awesome place to live,” Barraclough said. “We’ve seen a lot of changes, but we love the community.”

Neighbors encouraged Barraclough to join the community council when they were trying to have a new neighborhood park built. Fellow residents in the Wilford area banded together and ultimately had a new park in place after several years of working hard together. 

“It was kind of that peer community organization that did it,” Barraclough said. “When we all came together, neighbors who didn’t know neighbors before were suddenly a cohesive unit working to get this park. And now we have pie night in the summer and all sorts of activities there that keep the neighborhood connected.”

As a community council trustee, Barraclough is one of two people to represent the Wilford neighborhood area. Depending on population size, each of the 13 areas has at least one trustee on the council that volunteers their time. Trustees are required to be a voice for their particular area, attend the monthly meetings, and be aware of all the projects going on in the community and city overall. They are trusted to share information and updates with their neighbors and set up any additional public meetings within their areas. 

The Sugar House Community Council consists of about 30 trustees right now. In addition to the council, there are subcommittees that each can become connected with. The committees include land use and zoning, transportation, arts and culture, and trails, parks and open spaces. 

Barraclough continues to be heavily involved with the various parks and natural spaces in Sugar House. She chairs the community council subcommittee that is focused on trails, parks, and open spaces. They meet once a month to discuss the ongoing projects and events taking place and dive into the details of certain plans. Barraclough and the rest of her subcommittee have been closely involved with the progress of the Parley’s Trail and its development throughout Sugar House Park, amongst other big projects. 

“I’ve learned everything about what it takes to get a park started, how it goes through the design process, the construction process, all of that,” Barraclough said. “So that really appeals to me in other parts of the city, too. I’m also on the Parley’s Rails, Trails, and Tunnels (PRATT) board. They’re the ones doing the 8 ½ -mile bike trail that runs from the mouth of Parley’s Canyon all the way to the Jordan Canal, which is mostly constructed now.”

While she stays busy with all her community council projects, Barraclough still makes time for her joys of cycling and gardening. She is an avid e-bike cyclist now, and experienced an e-bike journey around the islands of Croatia last year.