New city in Salt Lake County

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Residents in this area of Salt Lake County, arguably the last unincorporated area with any significant commercial development, have voted overwhelmingly to become their own city, according to complete but unofficial results Tuesday night.

Some 85 percent of voters opted to incorporate, with 15 percent opposed.

"I feel great, I am so pleased," incorporation sponsor Gordon Nicholl said. "We had such a huge turnout of voters come out to express their feelings on this issue. I'm elated that so many people took the time to inform themselves."

Results indicate 32 percent of registered voters participated — a large figure for this type of election.

"We did everything we could to get the word out," Nicholl said.

Nicholl and other proponents say they wanted to incorporate primarily to make their own decisions on planning and zoning (right now the final decisions are made by the county). A frequent point of contention is the proliferation of billboards in the area.

"No longer will the county be involved in this area," a pro-incorporation Web site stated. "This is one of the major reasons for incorporation — to have the people most affected by land-use decisions be the ones who make those decisions."

The new city will be bordered generally by Holladay on the north, Creek Road on the south, the Wasatch-Cache National Forest on the east and 1300 East on the west.

City officials will be chosen in an August primary, if needed, and the November general election. The area will officially become a city on Jan. 1, 2005.

There were 55 percent of voters who chose to have a city council-city manager form of government — the form most small Utah cities use, consisting of a part-time mayor, who is a voting member of the city council, and a full-time city manager who runs day-to-day city operations.

The remaining voters were split on the council-mayor form of government (full-time mayor) and a pure city council form.

Voters favored having city council members chosen by district, though a law that went into effect May 1 gives incorporation sponsors the option to add at-large council seats as well.

The exact makeup of the council has not yet been decided.