Kennecott's vision: 'Nonmining assets' to become well-planned communities

The company recently received ISO-14001 certification, an international environmental-standards certification typically given to large manufacturers. Kennecott Land is the only land developer in the country to be ISO certified, McMahon said, adding that Tinto has a policy that all of its subsidiaries will receive the certification.

"It says we're pretty much at the top of the class in how we manage environmental protection," he said.

Local environmentalists are cautiously optimistic about Kennecott Land's plans.

Marc Heileson, regional representative at the Sierra Club, said he sees promise in the plans, especially in the work of Calthorpe Associates, the company behind Kennecott's plan.

"One thing we are pleased with is their decision to go with Peter Calthorpe," Heileson said. "He has a long reputation of some very good smart-growth developments that have been built around access to mass transit and other things that make good growth. What we've seen so far of the layout plan does have a heavy transit focus."

Heileson said growth is inevitable, and the Sierra Club just wants to see that growth managed well.

"We're not against growth, but we do acknowledge that the patterns of development determine our air quality, our open space, our water quality and, more important, our quality of life," he said. "Are we stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic under a brown cloud of pollution for the rest of our lives?"

He said for the plan to be successful, planning, funding and construction on east-west light-rail lines need to be a top priority for transportation planners. He said the Sierra Club will continue to watch Kennecott Land's plans and hopes they are carried out as they have been explained so far.

He would also like to see a focus on renewable energy sources, saying solar and wind power could be very successful on the west bench and that planning new communities is the ideal time to incorporate alternative types of energy.

The demand

But are such ambitious plans realistic? Will the Wasatch Front continue to see the rapid growth it has in recent decades, or are projections that there will be 500,000 new people looking to move to the Salt Lake Valley in the future overly optimistic?

Jaren Davis, the president of the Utah Association of Realtors, thinks the projections are conservative.

"The Wasatch Front spent years hidden from the world as to what we are, what we have to offer," he said. He said the area has a lot considering its small population base, from the arts to sports to shopping to recreation.

Recent moves by large national companies like IKEA and Cabela's to build in the area "bode well" for the idea that a lot of growth is still on its way, Davis said, and that jobs will follow.