North Salt Lake to develop gravel pit

NORTH SALT LAKE — The City Council is on its way to developing a defunct gravel pit.

Since the early part of this decade, there has been no activity at the 90-acre gravel pit — bordered by U.S. Highway 89, Orchard Drive and Eagleridge Drive — which had been in operation since the 1940s.

In the early 2000s, the City Council rezoned the gravel pit from residential to full commercial, and Tuesday, the council further rezoned the pit to allow a planned development. That will give the city more flexibility in what kind of development goes into the area, said city manager Collin Wood.

More commercial development eases the property-tax burden for residents, and the city would like to include office, commercial and residential development in the zone. The city receives about $2 million of its $8.5 million general-fund budget from sales tax each year. About $1.6 million comes from property taxes, Wood said.

Geotechnical studies are still being conducted on the zone, and no building can happen until the studies are done.

During the council meeting, some city residents took issue with the idea of building townhomes as part of the development. Others disliked the traffic that could come through the city and cause congestion.