Draper OKs the Corner Canyon plan

DRAPER — Draper's mountainside paradise will stay a natural beauty in the middle of the booming city.

The Draper City Council unanimously approved the Corner Canyon Master Plan on Tuesday night. And on top of that, it was learned Draper Irrigation Co. probably will not pursue a plan for a 14-acre reservoir in the north end of the canyon.

"Not with the feeling of the City Council," said Dave Gardner, the water company's development manager. "There are other areas we'll pursue."

The local company was one of four that sold the 1,021 acres to the city for open space. But Draper Irrigation, also known as Water Pro, still held rights on 14 acres of land in the canyon's basin.

City officials and water company leaders have disputed whether those rights were meant for water tanks or a reservoir. During a public hearing two weeks ago, most residents spoke out against the idea of a large, 150 million-gallon, 100-foot-high dam in that open space. The City Council has also expressed angst over that idea.

But now Draper Irrigation will resubmit plans for a water tank that would hold 6 million gallons of water and stand at 165 feet wide and only 38 feet high. Most of that would be buried underground, Gardner said.

The water company submitted a plan to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission about one or two months ago, he said, but that plan was appealed because it did not take into account the trees already on the location.

Draper Irrigation will head back to the commission soon for approval on the tank.

"When people say, 'Why do you want to build a reservoir,' I say, 'Look how much Draper has grown,"' Gardner said. However, he said, "Overall, there wasn't much objection to the tank."

The master plan approved Tuesday recommended against a reservoir.

News of the plan's approval delighted Bruce John Stracke, a local activist who formed the Web site cornercanyon.com last year as a sounding board for other interested residents.

"As a city as small as Draper to make the commitment they did is huge," he said.

Stracke added he likes the master plan, especially since it calls for few additions.

"More is not better," he said. "We don't need a lot up there."

Draper, wanting to preserve that land from home developers, bought the land for $13.7 million last year. Part of that money came through a $7 million bond residents approved in 2004. Park City and Draper were among the first cities in Utah to issue open space bonds.