Salt Lake County is seeking public input on plans for a massive west-bench development and the possible creation of a new zoning category that could clear the way for that development.

Two public open houses are planned for the county's west-side neighborhoods next week:

• Tuesday, Brockbank Junior High School, LGI Science Building, 2935 S. 8560 West, Magna, 6-8 p.m.

• Wednesday, Kearns High School cafeteria, 5255 S. 4800 West, Kearns, 6-8 p.m.

The County Council is considering creating a new zoning category, known as the planned community (P-C) zone, that would be applicable to any piece of land of at least 1,000 acres with one single owner or a group of owners voluntarily consolidating their zoning request. It would be a mixed-use zone allowing developers to master plan a community with parks, residential areas, business areas and open space all falling under one zone.

Likely the first — and biggest — use for that zone would be Kennecott Land's efforts to develop 41,000 of the 74,000 acres it owns along the Salt Lake Valley's west bench. The company plans to turn that 41,000 acres — the rest of its land is on undevelopable steep slopes in the Oquirrh Mountains — into the future home of as many as 500,000 people, as well as several businesses, office parks, schools (from preschools to universities) and possibly even a ski resort or two.

Kennecott expects the master-planned communities, ranging from small hillside neighborhoods to two large urban centers, to take about 75 years to complete, although part of the development — South Jordan's Daybreak community — is already under construction.

Kennecott Land, through the Salt Lake County Council of Governments, hosted a series of summits last year to gather input on its proposal from city and county officials, transportation experts, environmentalists, infrastructure planners, public utilities and other key players. The result was a detailed plan showing Daybreak and another urban center, to the north near Magna, that would be connected by a "transit spine" including a light-rail line and spurs to existing light rail throughout the valley.

Along the transit spine would be clusters of smaller developments, from medium-sized "town centers" and "village centers" to small neighborhoods. The majority of the homes would be within walking distance of at least a neighborhood center — grocery stores, schools, community centers and other amenities.

County planners presented the preliminary P-C- zone proposal to the council last month in hopes that, in the coming months, the council will approve adding the new category to the zoning ordinance at the same time it approves the general plan for Kennecott Land's west-bench development. That plan will be presented to the council April 1.

The zone would establish five requirements a developer must meet before such a development can begin, starting with applying the P-C zone and ending with a final site plan review and platting process. At least three of those steps would require County Council approval before developers could move on to the next step.

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com