Supporters, Opponents Debate Updated ‘Olympia Hills’ Proposal
Jan 14, 2020, 1:31 PM | Updated: 10:33 pm
HERRIMAN, Utah – Opponents and supporters of the Olympia Hills development in the southwest end of Salt Lake County voiced their opinions about the highly debated project.
Tuesday night’s meeting was the first of two this month, which the public was invited to attend.
The new proposal calls for about 6,330 units on around 933 acres in a mixed-use type housing development.
KSL spoke with Riverton City Mayor Trent Staggs about the meeting, regarding a study Riverton, Herriman, South Jordan, Bluffdale and Copperton have taken part in since the first proposal in 2018.
The southwest communities’ biggest concern is infrastructure.
Mayor Staggs enjoyed visiting with @FeliciaKSL from @KSL5TV this morning about the revised Olympia Hills proposal. Salt Lake County's first public hearing is tonight at 6 p.m. at the County Government Complex in Salt Lake City. pic.twitter.com/saIGepsett
— Riverton City (@RivertonUtahGov) January 14, 2020
“If you’ve driven (through) Daybreak, just think of twice the density, really, at the furthest most edge west of the valley,” said Mayor Staggs. “Are all those people going to just live work and play, confined in that 900 acres? No.”
He said traffic directly through 12600 South would bring 30,000 to 90,000 cars per day through Riverton.
“I think people are fine with the master plan component – there’s a lot of people that like Daybreak. We are going to have one (a similar community) in our own city of Riverton on 13400 South between Bangerter Highway and Mountain View Corridor, but we’ve got the infrastructure,” said Staggs.
The southwest visioning study comes with solutions, as well, that will be addressed at the meeting, including a focus on east-to-west connectivity, directly connecting the communities out west to Interstate 15, building job centers in the southwest quadrant of the county and then adding residential.
Traffic and infrastructure were the big focus points for both sides at Tuesday’s meeting at the Salt Lake County Government Center.
“Our infrastructure can’t handle it, our water can’t handle it,” one opponent said.
“I think it is a wonderful development I like all of the concepts I like the idea of dense housing I think we need to accept that,” another resident said.
The second meeting will be on Jan. 28 in Herriman.
