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Show Waier Lac!:. Traffic May Halt tlSL Building By MARK D. MICKELSEN NORTH SALT LAKE Traffic congestion con-gestion and a diminishing water supply may halt indefinitely any development efforts aimed at North Salt Lake's hillside sector, the town's planning chairman announced. PLANNING DIRECTOR Richard Johnston John-ston said Tuesday it would be "immoral" for city officials to approve of any building in the area without a guarantee from the developers that adequate traffic routes and water supplies will be available. He said the city is working on a new subdivision ordinance which will hold developers, de-velopers, by law, to their guarantees. THE ORDINANCE has already been approved by the planning commission and will be sent on to the city council for their consideration. "Developers will have to live up to their promises," Mr. Johnston said, noting that under the proposal, neither building or occupancy permits will be issued by the city until the improvements arc completed. TKS CITY HAS already undertaken an extensive water rate study, aimed at "getting "get-ting to the bottom" of the water depart ment's continual year-to-year deficit. Mr. Johnston said if a developer, in the near future, volunteered to build a new water wa-ter reservoir or a new road for the city, the city would be hard-pressed to turn them down. AND ALTHOUGH Ihe probability of such a proposal is questionable. Mr. Johnston John-ston said the city "is in no position" lo finance either a reservoir or rtwd at the present time. He blamed this as one of Ihe main reasons development along the hillside has been discouraged by both the planning commission and city council. THE PROBLEM IN the development of the city, he said, "is the hillside." "Conceptually, the city has decided any-thing any-thing west of Interstate-1 5 is industrial and anything to the east is residential." he viid . IF WE ANNEX, we'll still only have the hillside lo develop." he added. He points out that the trend in development develop-ment now is with single-family detached homes "and all the ramifications" that go with them many of which are prohibitive in the hillside situation. TKX BIGGEST problem is thai most of the single-family developments are expensive expen-sive due to water and traffic needs, he said. But while development is halted. Mr. Johnston said the city is still trying to improve im-prove the overall appearance of the town through renovation and the removal of certain cer-tain "eyesores." THE DEVELOPMENT of the North Salt Lake parkway along lntcrstate-89 "is only the beginning." he said. The bcautification of the city is being spearheaded by the citizens, he said, who through a master plan have decided to gradually gra-dually improve the image of the city. HE SAID INSTEAD of the condemnation of buildings and decaying developments, improvements will be sanctioned through ordinances passed by the governing bodies in the city. One drawback at present is the fact that many absentee landowners have delayed improvements on their property because they are waiting for it to be sold. HE SAID THE city has already torn down some "sub-standard" housing developments. de-velopments. In addition. Mr. Johnston noted that as soon as the city has some capital, they in tend to buy more land for future improvements. improve-ments. "ANY CITY IS fairly limited in what they can do to landowners." he said, adding that any danger posed by the development de-velopment is the only way the city can take legal action. North Salt Lake doesn't have a professional profes-sional full-time planner, and Mr. Johnston doubts if one will ever be hired. AND HE SAID until that happens, the city will have to develop the city with amateurs and volunteers interested in the future of the city. Residents of the hillside neighborhoods have already made it clear that they want only R-l. or single-family dwellings. To change that decision for the development of duplexes or other multiple unit dwellings would require a major rezoning effort. Mr. Johnston said. IN ADDITION, A fairly extensive hillside hill-side ordinance passed by the city council says that the steepness of the slope needed for building determines the density of the development space. And in many cases, developers find it difficult to meet those strict requirements and still come up with a feasible project. |