A handful of Farmington residents stand to lose property — and property value — because of a plan by the state to build a connection from the Legacy Parkway northward.

The Legacy Parkway is a 14-mile highway from North Salt Lake to Farmington. It is under construction after almost five years of delay because of litigation. It is expected to open in 2008.

The northbound portion of the highway, Legacy North, is still in preliminary planning phases. It is about 10 to 20 years from actual construction.

Current plans are to have the Legacy Parkway link up with Legacy North via I-15. Motorists traveling the Legacy Parkway would need to merge onto I-15 for a mile before transferring onto Legacy North.

The new connection plan calls for a small road to be built west of I-15, linking the two Legacy highways. Residents say the plan to connect Legacy and Legacy North is "a bummer deal" that could destroy several homes and at least one business.

"I have not heard one positive bit of feedback on this at all," said Travis Tait, a Farmington resident. "It will totally split the community between I-15 and this new corridor. It's going to be like the Farmington wedge. Eventually, I doubt you'll see residential homes here. It's a bummer deal."

Beginning at 5 p.m. today until 7 p.m. the Utah Department of Transportation will hold an open house to inform residents about the connection plan. At 7 p.m., the Farmington Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to see whether to change the city's transportation plan to accommodate the proposed new Legacy connection.

By changing the plan, UDOT can begin purchasing land to preserve a route for the connection.

"Why build an expressway to handle the huge commuter burden coming from the north, only to have it combined with I-15, creating a huge bottleneck," said Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, in a letter to constituents justifying the change.

Cory Pope, director of UDOT Region 1, said Monday that the transportation agency is looking at the Legacy Highway connection plan as "a safety net."

"It may or may not be a future highway corridor," he said. "The chances of something being built in the next 10 years are slim. Between 10 to 20 years, that's when the possibilities creep in. But if we don't do something now, development will take place and the impacts are greater."

Today's public hearing will be held at 120 S. Main in Farmington. For more information about the proposal, log on to the Farmington city Web site: www.farmington.utah.gov.

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E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com