Up-to-the-minute news at Draper Town Hall meeting

Some Draper residents braved stormy weather conditions Jan. 29 to attend the city’s first town hall meeting of 2013.

“For this meeting, we wanted to try to meet the New Year with enthusiasm,” Mayor Darrell Smith. “This is a broad view of how we envision how things are going to happen this year and beyond.”

Acting City Manager David Dobbins reviewed projects completed in 2012 and others that are ongoing in the city.

City officials will soon start work on a master plan for the 2,300 SunCrest acres purchased by the city. After a city council retreat in February where it will be discussed, the city will begin holding meetings with those they call stakeholders, (those who have a vested interest in the area) to “establish a path for a vision for that entire mountain,” City Councilmember Bill Colbert said.

City officials anticipate less development in the area than was originally master planned.

“The city has a commitment to trails, open space and parks in the area,” Dobbins said.

Dobbins highlighted development in the city including construction of TRAX and Front Runner stations, the Living Planet Aquarium, Lone Peak Hospital, Hoopes Vision and the first eBay building.

Dobbins said RC Willey will begin construction adjacent to IKEA in March,

Two schools are being built in Draper - Corner Canyon High School and Crescent View Middle School Middle – and the county opened a new senior center in December.

The city has widened 300 East, completed Bellevue Park, constructed a new bridge at the city park and the Little Valley Tunnel under Traverse Ridge Road.  The Day Dairy Barn has also been relocated and renovated.

U.T.A. is preparing for the opening of the Draper TRAX line later this summer. Initial testing will begin in February. UTA will conduct Operation Lifesaver training at local schools and safety drills with the city in March.

According to UTA Chief Capital Investment Officer Steve Meyer, the new Front Runner line is carrying about double what express busses from Utah County were carrying in the past.

“We weren’t planning to build the Draper station for 5 to 10 years but the mayor and city council stepped up and made that happen,” he said.

In response to a resident question, Meyer said UTA is doing studies in the southwest portion of the valley to look at options to connect TRAX with Front Runner in the future.

Canyons School District officials gave the latest updates on the high school and middle school.

School District Board President Sherril Taylor said crews are busy putting the finishing touches on the high school.

“We’re proud of this new addition to the Draper community. We have no doubt it will be one of the crown jewels of the Salt Lake Valley,” he said. “We promised it to the community and we delivered it.”

“The new school has some great ties to Draper,” Corner Canyon High School Principal Mary Bailey said.

She spoke of the school’s two domes, the second of which is over the commons area. The main dome is the same design as the dome in the gazebo in the Draper City Historical Park, which was inspired by the “Round House” in that location.

Housed in the dome tower will be a bell which will be rung electronically during singing of the school pep song and other key times. The tower also houses a victory light which will glow blue when school teams win their games and student groups are recognized.

Currently, 1,740 are enrolled in the new high school. Interested residents can “like” the school on Facebook to get up-to-date information, Bailey said.

Canyon View Middle School Principal Gregory Leavitt said he wants to see the community be involved in and make use of the new building’s facilities.

“Our track, auditorium, computer lab – I can see these being a great park of this community,” he said.

He said school officials are working with the city and traffic engineers to address potential traffic issues on 1300 East. Presently, Crescent View has 17 busses, but the new school will utilize just 11 with its more central location.

Currently, 1325 students are enrolled in the new school.

“What a great and exciting time this is going to be,” Smith commented. “With the opening of these schools, we will have nearly 10 schools, with the charter schools, in the community. We want to do the best job we can to maintain the quality of life that we revere in the community.”

At the meeting, representatives from Envision Utah and Wasatch Front Regional Council also outlined their role in community development and in planning for the future in broad strokes.

WFRC projects that the Salt Lake Valley’s population will grow by 59 percent by 2040.

“Our resources and abilities to keep up with the growth have been greatly outstripped,” Sam Klemm, WFRC, said. Key to the solution is developing walkable communities, he said. Such communities will mean less congestion, lower taxes, enhanced mobility and economic growth, better air quality, greater protection of open space, he added.