Kennecott to discuss plans for land

The owner of 144 square miles of undeveloped west-bench land is preparing to take the next step in creating its master plan. The plan could guide the next 50 or more years of growth in the Salt Lake Valley.

Kennecott Land, which owns a 26-mile-long, 93,000-acre swath of land along the Oquirrh Mountain foothills and into Tooele and Utah counties, will host its first of four summits for community leaders and planners Wednesday. This summit will introduce the leaders, including west-side mayors, county and city planners and other decision-makers, to the purpose of Kennecott's planning process, said Kennecott Land spokeswoman Jana Kettering.

"With 144 square miles of land, we want to do it right," she said.

The word Kennecott Land officials continually use to describe its planning process is "unprecedented." Rarely is so large a chunk of land lying in wait for development. And rarely do officials have a chance to envision the future of 93,000 acres all at once, they say.

Kennecott Land is a sister company to Kennecott Utah Copper, the mining giant that for decades has used its Oquirrh foothill land in its mining operations. But as copper mining seems ready to wind down, the company wants to see the land developed with a set of key principles.

Among those principles, they say, are sustainability, environmental responsibility, a sense of community, open space, quality of life and a unique sense of place.

Kennecott Land has already started its development with South Jordan's Daybreak community, a master-planned community that includes parks within five minutes' walking distance of every home, a school and community center and a soon-to-be-filled lake for recreation, fishing and irrigation.

Now, Kennecott officials say, it's time to decide where the next Daybreak will be and what it will look like.

Kennecott's land holdings are mostly in unincorporated parts of the county, though some of it lies inside existing cities and much of it abuts other cities. So Kennecott's developers want to include mayors, planning and zoning officials and other leaders of those cities, as well as the county, in the development of its master plan, rather than the traditional method of creating a plan and then asking officials for permission to go ahead.

The Salt Lake County Council of Governments, a coalition of city leaders throughout the county, agreed in August to be part of the planning process. Other groups will be involved as well, including transportation planners such as the Wasatch Front Regional Council.