Hooper's future: Town swelling by leaps and bounds
But the small-town charm of this formerly quiet, picket-fence community that borders the Great Salt Lake is beginning to fade as acres of former farmland are rapidly being turned into rows of large stone-and-stucco homes.
A $12 million sewer system is being installed through the east side of town, replacing septic tanks. Installation of those lines could lead to rapid construction and more-houses-per-acre building in Hooper, largely because the high water table won't be such a limiting factor. Until work started, Hooper, which is surrounded by wetlands on three sides, had been the largest unsewered city in Utah.
To some of the residents, one of the signs that the face of Hooper had started to change was when the dairy farm, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a fixture along the town's 5900 West since the 1940s, shut down.
The farm had been rented by a local farmer for a while, but in 2005 was replaced by an LDS chapel and a large residential subdivision.
"It bothered me when the church gave up the stake farm," said Belnap, 82, a Hooper resident since 1933. "All the hard work and labor that went into that. To see it go for housing, that was shocking to me."
He said the roads are busier these days, especially during rush hours. And there is more noise, the kind that comes with more homes, more people, more cars.
"I guess it's just a sign of the times," he said. "We knew the growth was coming."
In pioneer days, Hooper was known as Muskrat Springs for an artesian well where the critters were plentiful. The area was also used as part of the Weber Herd Ground for cattle, and herdsmen built Hooper's first house, a two-story abode, back in 1854.
Many homes have been built since, and many more are planned.
So fearful was a vandal of Hooper's continuing growth that he caused $50,000 damage to sewer pipes last year to try to halt their installation.
Others joke that the "Hooper sewer sucks," since Hooper's sewer will be Utah's first vacuum sewer system. The fee to hook up for each resident, if paid on time, was $809.
However, now the impact fee is $2,333 through the Central Weber Sewer System. (That doesn't include the cost for also taking a sewer line from the street to a household). Residents will pay $38 a month for sewer service.
Hooper's population is estimated to be almost 6,000, according to the Wasatch Front Regional Council. That's up from an estimated 4,700 when Hooper incorporated seven years ago.
Recent comments
It's really sad to see farm and pasture land disappearing to make way...
Danny C. | Oct. 21, 2007 at 2:45 p.m.
A lot of people will call this progress in what's happening in...
Anonymous | Oct. 21, 2007 at 10:22 a.m.
- Lightning delays shuttle launch 2:54 p.m.
- Sweating can be big stuff 2:53 p.m.
- Exhumation finds 1 body in grave 2:41 p.m.
- Body found at NY skyscraper 2:37 p.m.
- McNair mourned as a 'hero,' 2:31 p.m.
- Myths as persistent as mosquitoes 2:12 p.m.
- Hollywood glamour at Gaultier 1:58 p.m.
- Canal breaks, causes landslide in Logan 1:52 p.m.
- Reptile Lou won't eat 1:06 p.m.
- Three injured in South Ogden shooting 1:05 p.m.
- Jazz brass debate Millsap match
- LDS seminary principal arrested
- 2 men cited on LDS plaza
- Jazz finances not quite so bleak
- Reactions on Boozer speculation
- HBO defends U. logo use in 'Love'
- Utahns among Texans' investors
- Cash for Clunkers to get rolling soon
- Jazz rookies quiet Thunder youngsters
- 10 years after the flood
- LDS seminary principal arrested
267 - Jazz brass debate Millsap match
176 - Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
141 - Jazz talking Boozer trade?
140 - 2 men cited on LDS plaza
132 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
124 - Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
99 - Fairness of BCS debated
81 - Letters: Single-payer system best
75 - Services bids farewell to Jackson
70
As more and more dads are put out of work in this economy, I've been...
The photographs are mysterious, brooding, dark. They show dimples and...
I am confident that Glen Beck has the read the book by Gary Allen,NONE DARE...
The best thing we could do would be to get rid of all the people in DC who...
He would not pull out a whip, that's for sure. You people must read a...
i havent read anything about 20 mil. i read 32 to 36 mil not confirmed. 15...
Enter comment Introduzca comentario ¡¡Por Dios!! Esto no es cosa del...
When I was 16, I thought the world of my seminary teachers. They all talked...
Girls/Ladies/Women, let me first introduce reality into this discussion. In...
Obviously you don't get my point. They were non-violent resisters. They were...
PRESIDENT CLINTON was guilty of the SAME KIND OF CRIME. An older man in a...
Ah, The Religion of Peace! :-)


