Herriman city planner Glenn Graham finds several things unusual about the city.

One is the fact that Herriman, which was incorporated in 1999 and had a population of 1,523 in 2000, has grown to a city of what he estimates is 18,000 in just seven and a half years.

With no significant economic pull to the city, which sits in the southwest part of the Salt Lake Valley west of Riverton and Bluffdale, its growth might be considered a phenomenon.

"It is to me," Graham said. "I expected a lot different than what I've run into."

Graham said people tell him they move to Herriman because of the feel of the city. Many of those moving into the city are young families. Graham said its location away from the urban hubbub is one of the city's major draws.

"A number of people who do live here work in the Provo area or Utah County. And I think this is a fairly convenient road for them to get down there and still live in the Salt Lake Valley."

Herriman's roots go back to the Salt Lake Valley's early days when Thomas Butterfield decided to take root on the land in 1851. First named Butterfield, it became Herriman in 1858, named after the prominent LDS Church leader Henry Herriman who lived there.

In 2005, the city's population had grown to 11,226, according to a U.S. Census estimate, and has grown by nearly another 7,000 since then, according to both Graham's and Herriman Mayor J. Lynn Crane's estimate. And he said Herriman expects to double its population before it reaches maximum population.

"It depends on what becomes of the city," Graham said. "Our boundaries may change drastically over the next few years. But if they stay right where they're at we're projecting about 45,000."

What Graham also finds unusual is the willingness the community has shown toward the growth. Graham and the rest of the city have dealt with a boom that has created "a completely different lifestyle" from earlier days, but he has not heard many complaints from the city's original residents.

He said the leaders of the city have been working to properly direct the growth.

"Basically they've embraced the whole idea," Graham said of Herriman's City Council, most of whom come from Herriman's pre-boom era.

The city's major challenge is working with the growth, and Graham said the city has been able to keep its infrastructure up to speed.

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E-mail: bcaballero@desnews.com