OCR Text |
Show :G stow m Ridge 9 wges Highland By MARC HADDOCK Highland City has called for a hird party to study the possible mpacts of the proposed Traverse tidge development before Utah bounty grants a zone change for the iirea. c The request comes in a March 6 fetter signed by Highland Mayor . Larry Miller to the Utah County Planning Commission and County Hpommission Chairman Gary J. .Anderson. The letter restates Highland City's roncern with the proposed Traverse tidge, a 5000-acre development that vill run from Draper to Alpine. The Arizona-based Estes Company is ehind efforts to rezone the property or a development. Estes Co. is looking at the ssibility of building 10,000 homes n the area, and would bring in-lustry in-lustry to provide jobs for the esidents of the development. Highland's letter is aimed at a ylarch 18 public hearing in the iTpounty Commission Chamber, Inhere the county planning com-" com-" (nission will consider Estes request "'(or a zone change and a change in Ihe county masterplan. The zone change request would change the property on Traverse Mountain from a critical environment en-vironment zone to a zone designed for residential development - a change that Highland officials consider too radical to be approached ap-proached without extensive study. "We recommend this zoning change . . . not be considered until after a thorough study is made by an impartial third party of the impact heavy development would have on this critical environment area," the letter states. Among Highland's concerns are the impact on the watershed, as well as lack of information on roads, schools, irrigation and sewer concerns con-cerns - all mentioned when the city protested an earlier attempt to have the Utah County property annexed to Draper City in Salt Lake County. "Virtually none of the concerns which led to our city filing a protest against the annexation of the same area by the city of Draper have been addressed," the letter states. "Our concerns about traffic, sewer, water, environmental impact, pollution and degredation of the lifestyle of our community still exist." Estes Co. dropped the annexation bid when Highland and Alpine protested the annexation - and is now attempting to create a special service district under the jurisdiction of the county to make the contracts necessary to build the development. That move also concerns Highland officials, who say the county has stayed out of residential developments develop-ments -- and should continue to do so, "especially with a development of the magnitude of the one proposed for Traverse Ridge. "The county will have to provide police protection, fire protection, road maintenance in an area of very unstable ground, snow removal in a parcel of ground that has the harshest har-shest weather conditions in the county and municipal-type functions. func-tions. The project will certainly cost the citizens of Utah County much more that it will return in revenue." The letter urges the commission to move slowly on the Traverse Ridge development. "If the decision process is handled carefully, there will always be other-opportunities other-opportunities to develop this land. If the development is approved hastily and turns out to be undesirable, there will never be another opportunity op-portunity to consider alternative land uses," the letter states. |