City Council Announcements
April 6, 2004
A. Decisions, Feedback & Information needed by staff
1. Would Council Members like to meet with Nancy Tessman for a preview of options relating to the Library Budget? No discussion was held
2. Council Member Dave Buhler would like to initiate the attached legislative action. He would like to request that the Administration examine the City’s zoning ordinance to include processing time frames once completed information is filed by the petitioner with the City to when it will be scheduled before the Planning Commission, and the time frame after it is voted upon by the Planning Commission and forwarded to the City Council. Does the City Council approve scheduling the attached legislative action for an upcoming Work Session for discussion? Council Members approved the legislative action for an upcoming Work Session for discussion.
B. For Your Information
1. Attached are several grant applications submitted by the City.
2. Kennecott Land Co., Governor Olene Walker and South Jordan Mayor Kent Money are scheduled to attend a public event Monday, April 5, in which Kennecott Land will introduce seven developers that the company will use to develop its 4,200-acre Daybreak planned community. According to news articles, construction of the first 1,200 homes will start in July.
Kennecott Land representative Kort Utley outlined the development for the Wasatch Front Regional Council's Regional Growth Committee at the committee's meeting Thursday. Development of Kennecott Land's holdings in the western part of the Salt Lake Valley may pose a variety of issues for Salt Lake City.
According to Mr. Utley, Kennecott Land owns about 93,000 acres east of the Oquirrh Mountains. The figure represents more than half of the undeveloped land remaining in the Salt Lake Valley, he said. Kennecott plans to set aside about 45,000 acres of the 93,000 acres as open space. However, the Daybreak development is the first phase of two developments on the remaining acres. Kennecott also plans long-range to build a development similar to Daybreak near the Kennecott tailings ponds and Interstate 80. A significant portion of the second development could fall within Salt Lake City's western and southern boundaries.
Mr. Utley told the Growth Committee that Kennecott Land's development is premised in part on the idea that "the heart of the Salt Lake Valley is downtown Salt Lake City." He said that based on that idea Kennecott Land planned to develop residential housing with commercial districts as "support centers" to the downtown. However, that statement should be weighed against the Daybreak development's plans to build nine million square feet of commercial space -- in addition to 13,667 homes. The latter figure includes single family dwellings and multifamily structures. Mr. Utley estimated that roughly half of the projected 470,000 additional people expected to live in Salt Lake County by the year 2030 could live in Kennecott Land developments.
Because of the expected population of the developments, Mr. Utley said, Kennecott Land is working with the Utah Transit Authority to accelerate construction of the Mid-Jordan light rail spur, and with the Utah Department of Transportation on a "Mountain Corridor" highway access to the developments.
Kennecott Land's plans may pose several issues for Salt Lake City:
First, it appears that Kennecott Land does not want to compete with Salt Lake City as the commercial center of the Salt Lake Valley. However, the planned construction of nine million square feet of commercial space -- at Daybreak alone -- ultimately may compete with Salt Lake City commercial businesses as well as the rest of the valley.
Second, the future development of Kennecott Land's holdings near the tailing ponds and I-80 probably would result in an increase in property tax revenue for the City. However, the increase would be offset by the cost of providing Salt Lake City services to at least part of the development.
Third, long-term, development of Kennecott Land's property probably means that the day when the Salt Lake Valley is fully developed will be sooner than later, and the resultant need for infill development also will be sooner than later.
Fourth, if Kennecott Land's population projections of the number of people living in its developments cuts the potential market for people living in Salt Lake City by half. It also should be noted that even though Kennecott Land owns roughly half of the undeveloped land in the Salt Lake Valley, it does not own the other half, which others may develop.
Fifth, Kennecott Land's residential development will involve building new, energy efficient housing that could save residents up to 30 percent of their energy bills, according to Mr. Utley. A question for Salt Lake City, then, is how will older, probably smaller housing compete in price and attraction with the new development? It may be that Salt Lake City will have to redouble its efforts to market itself to people thinking about living in Salt Lake Valley and businesses thinking about locating in the valley.
Sixth, if Kennecott Land advocating accelerating construction of the Mid-Jordan light-rail line, is it assuming that Daybreak residents will work in Salt Lake City? If so, should Salt Lake City support that effort? Similarly, if the company is advocating construction of a highway on the west side of the valley, should Salt Lake City support that effort?
If you have questions or comments give Russell a call.