Hundreds show up to give opinions on bridge over Utah Lake

PROVO — Casey Welch, from Irvine, teared up as he talked about the beauty of Utah Lake and how he wants to preserve it by not allowing a bridge across the lake.

Doug Harris, from Highland, spoke about how a bridge would allow people to see the lake more often and want to use it and take care of it more.

Marc Heileson, with the Sierra Club, thumped his fist on the table as he told of how the placement of the bridge doesn't make sense.

Larry Johnson, from Saratoga Springs, lives on the shore of the lake and thinks the bridge would relieve terrible traffic conditions on Lehi's Main Street.

They were among the more than 200 people who came to listen and express comments, concerns and ideas about the Utah Lake bridge proposal Thursday night at a Utah Lake Commission public hearing.

"I think we did exactly what we wanted to do," said Reed Price, executive director of the Utah Lake Commission.

Leon Harward and his group, Utah Crossing Inc., is proposing to build a 6-mile toll bridge over Utah Lake that would be funded, operated and maintained by his company. The bridge is proposed to run southwest from 800 North in Orem to just north of Pelican Point in Saratoga Springs.

Since Utah Crossing is a private company, the bridge has to go through a review process with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, which will make the final decision about whether the bridge proposal will go forward.

FFSL asked the Utah Lake Commission to help in this process, which prompted Thursday night's public hearing to take public comments.

While comments came from both those for and against the proposal, one thing was clear to the chairman of the Utah Lake Commission, Provo Mayor Lewis K. Billings: "It's obvious people care about Utah Lake."

Don Davis, who grew up in American Fork, called the bridge "foresight."

But Susan Sims raised concerns of whether the growth in Utah County, which is expected to reach more than 1 million in as little as 30 years, is really going to happen and if the bridge will last as long as it needs to.

State Rep. Ken Sumsion, R-American Fork, thinks so and has been a proponent of the bridge for a while.

During the meeting, David Grierson, with FFSL, explained the process the proposal will go through and how important public comments would be in the ultimate decision.

Currently the proposal is in the nomination review stage, the second step after the nomination, which allows time for public comment. The proposal will then go through several other steps including possibly advertising for any competing bids. After that, Utah Crossing would have to make a formal application and go into more detail about its project.

FFSL would then create a team made up of representatives from various governmental bodies and groups invested in the lake to do studies and evaluations and discuss stipulations, conditions and provisions.

"We are not going to rush this decision," Grierson said, "and we are going to be as thorough as possible."

Another public hearing will be held Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. at the Saratoga Shores Elementary School in Saratoga Springs.

FFSL will be accepting public comment through Nov. 30 at forestry.utah.gov/sovlands/utahlake/bridgecrossing.php.