From Deseret News archives:

Murray aims to revitalize area

Mixed-use development could transform Fireclay

Published: Monday, Aug. 1, 2005 9:27 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
MURRAY — The Fireclay district in this mid-valley town has been called underutilized by the diplomatic and downright ugly by the indiscreet.

The area between State Street and a hard railroad line at approximately 200 West stretches from 4500 South to Big Cottonwood Creek, roughly at 4100 South. Weed fields, industrial work yards and fenced-in piles of junk mostly occupy the 97-acre site that city officials are salivating to redevelop.

Developers have been reluctant to invest the millions of dollars necessary to create just the proper road access to the area (building an underpass beneath a hard rail line is estimated to cost at least $4 million), so the city has created a redevelopment agency project that would use some tax revenue from future development on the site to pay for improvements to the site.

Story continues below
Murray Mayor Dan Snarr is the most vocal and enthusiastic of all pro-development city officials. During his 7 1/2-year tenure (he is up for re-election this November; two opponents have filed already), Snarr has overseen development in a dozen or so spots in Murray. At least three of those have included big-box stores that residents in Holladay, Sandy and Riverton shun. Snarr is unabashedly pro-business and argues that his stance will make Murray into The Little Bedroom Community That Could.

"Let's do something about urban sprawl by dealing with urban blight," Snarr said, repeating his argument that zoning for high-density, mixed-use development will prevent both treeless subdivisions for starter families and inflated house prices that only rich folk can afford. "We could make that the premier transit-oriented development in the region."

It's rare to find a naysayer against developing the area — there is very little attractive development on the site now. However, an RDA would tie up millions of dollars over the next 15 to 20 years that otherwise would go to the county and Murray City School District, and district administrators want to make sure that they receive enough money to educate children who would live in the proposed mixed-use housing development.

A preliminary development plan for the Fireclay RDA calls for a mixture of large box stores near State Street and smaller, regional boutique stores west of Main Street. The development will abut a TRAX station and eventually be near a commuter rail line. That, and its proximity to I-15, puts it within walking distance of several major transportation corridors — a fact not lost on city officials, who want to model Fireclay after transit-oriented developments on the West Coast.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image
Deseret Morning News graphic

previousnext

Latest comments

Letters: Roundabouts great

I agree with whoever said it works well when there's only one lane of traffic...

Cougars in better mood about bowl

"Your not a BYU Grad." By the way, it is YOU ARE not a BYU Grad, not your....

Cougars in better mood about bowl

Undergraduate and graduate, my friend, which is why I am disappointed in:...

lets not put all the blame on Anserson. His marketing team had a big part in...

Some of our children and grandchildren were friends with Jared and they...

Andersen apologizes for Jordan hoax

Mr. Anderson was not alone in this hoax... I understand that Bryan has fessed...

That is so dumb! I think I will listen to 98% of all scientists and NOT the...

I think it is sad and pathetic that any team would play worse and be less...

Andersen apologizes for Jordan hoax

What were the Flash thinking? Do they not teach business ethics at BYU? I...

Cast second fiddle to '2012' effects

This is one of the worst and I mean worst movies I have ever seen. It is so...

Advertisements