Hillside proposal irks many in Draper

DRAPER — Its southern hillside now covered with homes, this once-rural community has ballooned from 9,000 residents to nearly 30,000 in less than a decade.

Several of those residents are now asking when is enough enough?

Perhaps it's when that wave of residential development spills over into the city's most pristine mountain paradise, Corner Canyon, a watershed and recreation area on Draper's southeastern bench.

Development already has encroached on this haven for horseback riders, hikers, bikers and wildlife. But now, 326 acres within a 1,035-acre chunk in the heart of Corner Canyon have been targeted for development. And that is making city officials nervous.

"It's a great landmark for the city," Draper City Manager Eric Keck said. "It's not only aesthetically beautiful, but it is certainly ecologically significant as well as significant for wildlife habitat that's been stressed out by all the development that's going on here."

The 1,035 acres are part of 2,400 acres, between the Alpine Scenic Loop Road and Traverse Ridge Road, the city would like to preserve as permanent open space. The land is owned by Corner Canyon Properties, a consortium of the Draper Irrigation Co., two smaller water companies and the city of Riverton, which acquired its share through the purchase of another water company years earlier.

Draper Irrigation, which delivers drinking and irrigation water to nearly the entire city, has come under fire from some of its customers for wanting to develop land treasured by many residents. Those folks find it ironic Draper Irrigation would aggressively police its watershed for so many years, doing everything it could to protect the hillside, then decide to bring bulldozers, pavement, underground utilities — and ultimately entire neighborhoods of people and vehicles — into the canyon.

"They have clamped down over the years and kept people from driving on that (land), and I just don't know if you can have it both ways," said state Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, who lives in neighboring South Mountain. "And at the end of the day, I don't want my water company being a developer. That's not the role of a water company."