The West Jordan City Council on Tuesday approved a plan to guide growth on its west side, retaining a proposal for the New Bingham Highway that has at least one business owner talking about possible lawsuits.

The west-side master plan would close off a section of the New Bingham Highway, which runs diagonally northeast-to-southwest from 7800 South and 4000 West to Copperton in Bingham Canyon. But the proposed closure, between 5600 West and 6400 West, is on a section of the road central to La Mar Coon's plans for his 21st Century Business Park.

"They're still impossible," Coon said of city officials. "I've spent a fortune in bringing businesses out there that they reap the benefits of."

His business park is home to a handful of wholesale manufacturers, including Dannon Yogurt and Bedrock Quartz. Coon owns 78 acres along the New Bingham segment that would be closed. He has not yet developed that land, but he said its frontage on the highway would put it in high demand.

"I've saved that until last, because it's the most valuable, and they're doing everything they can do destroy it," Coon said. "My golly, it's time they got their heads screwed on."

In May, he told the Deseret Morning News he was thinking of suing the city over its plans. On Wednesday, he said he has not made a decision, although he has spoken to two attorneys.

"I'm sure thinking about it, because I'd lose about $5 million if I lose that frontage on the New Bingham Highway," he said.

The city's plan would divert traffic from that section of the highway to nearby streets, including a planned seven-lane extension of 9000 South. The section of highway would be replaced by a park and trail system.

West Jordan community-development director Tom Burdett said the plan calls for the diversion because New Bingham's diagonal nature makes for dangerous intersections with east-west crossroads. He said the change would not occur at least until 2016, when the 9000 South extension is complete.

The New Bingham plan was added to the city's general plan in 1999, Burdett said.

Coon, in May, presented the council with signatures from 17 business owners opposed to the plan. Another company that has expressed opposition, although it did not sign the May petition, is Kennecott Utah Copper, which uses New Bingham Highway as its only state-approved haulage truck route for transporting heavy mining equipment.

Kennecott spokesman Larry Bunkall said in an e-mail Wednesday that the company "reaffirmed its opposition to (the city's) proposed future closure of the New Bingham Highway."

He said the company is working with the Wasatch Front Regional Council and the Utah Department of Transportation to "ensure a state highway with adequate heavy equipment specifications remains open from Bangerter Highway to State Highway 111 to the Bingham Canyon Mine."

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com