Eagle Mountain could one day have 200 parks

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Tucked away on the west side of Utah Lake, this city could become the home of more than 200 parks by the time it reaches its buildout of some 190,300 residents.

A smattering of folks from the parks and recreation board, City Council and a few homeowner associations recently reviewed preliminary plans with planners from DesignWorkshop who were commissioned to come up with a parks and open-space plan last June. Their plan includes four kinds of parks — from 97 "pocket parks" of half an acre to an acre in size within walking distance of every home, 83 neighborhood parks, 25 community parks and four regional parks of at least 20 acres each in size. Each park would have recreational amenities, but the details are still sketchy. Planners are looking at the young demographic in Eagle Mountain to determine what each park will look like.

Key to that is the social-cultural component, how the city will pay and care for them and park esthetics. That last component could include preserving petroglyphs left by ancient inhabitants of the region.

However, basketball courts, picnic areas in the smaller parks, and soccer and baseball fields in the larger parks are likely. Some activities will be year-round, planner Amanda Szot said.

The parks would have a family-friendly character and include a network of trails for jogging or walking, planner Melanie Andrus said. Eagle Mountain now has three trails running north to south, but the new park plan would link them east to west, planner Terrill Budge said. The parks would be added as the city grows.

The consultants are also planning changes with existing parks, including breaking up Pony Express Park with several rows of trees to serve as windbreaks for recreational areas. The triangular-shaped park is bordered by Pony Express Trail and Eagle Mountain Boulevard with a third road expected to be built on the third side.

An ATV trail is tentatively planned along Pony Express Trail to keep those vehicles away from horse and pedestrian trails.

The irregularly shaped Smith Ranch Trail that borders two churches and a school and skirts a wash has two soccer fields and two baseball fields earmarked for it. However, no parking is in the plan. Rather, officials are to work with the school and churches to share their parking, Budge said.

The third park, Paseo, is a long, narrow park that runs between the backyards of a residential area. That park is the most challenging to keep activities visible because of its length, Budge said.

"It's a work in progress," he said.

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E-mail: rodger@desnews.com