After a public hearing that lasted over an hour, the Tooele County Commission voted 2-1 to let the developer of Saddleback reroute 600 yards of Lakeshore Drive through Lake Point.
Over 30 people spoke at the public hearing during Tuesday night’s county commission meeting. Most opposed the developer’s plan to close and reroute Lakeshore Drive from Sunset Road to the north boundary of Ally Acres onto Cobblerock Road.
Despite the large opposition at the public hearing, Commissioner Myron Bateman said he had talked to many residents who approved of the new route.
“I talked to a lot of people in Lake Point and I’ve been around here a lot longer than most of you,” Bateman said, as he made the motion to approve the vacation of a portion of Lakeshore Drive. “My family pushed a handcart through there in 1857.”
The section of Lakeshore Drive that will ultimately be closed will remain open until Cobblerock Road is extended from Ally Acres west of Lakeshore Drive north to a rerouted Sunset Drive that intersects with Lakeshore Drive about one block north of the current Lakeshore Drive and Sunset Road intersection, according to Chris Robinson, managing partner of Saddleback Partners, LLC.
The county commission’s approval of the developer’s request is contrary to the Tooele County Planning Commission’s recommendation.
Last month the planning commission opposed the developer’s plan with a 6-1 vote to recommend that the county commission deny the closure and rerouting of Lakeshore Drive.
In its motion to oppose the partial road closure, the planning commission said the closure conflicts with the county’s general transportation plan, specifically a plan to connect Lakeshore Drive with a new road that brings state Route 201 into Tooele Valley.
Robinson produced a letter from the Utah Department of Transportation, which stated that Lakeshore Drive is not needed for the proposed extension of SR-201 into Tooele County.
“The only reason the planning commission gave in their motion objecting to the Lakeshore vacation was that they thought Lakeshore was going to be part of an extension of SR-201,” Robinson said. “UDOT does not need Lakeshore for their proposed extension of 201 and the vacation of this portion of Lakeshore Drive is part of the concept plan for Saddleback approved in 2016.”
But Robinson’s assurance did not convince Lake Point residents, some of whom objected to adding extra twists, turns, and trips through a roundabout to their major north-south connector route, especially for a developer whom they had fought against.
“First of all, I would like to go on record as disagreeing with the development agreement,” said Jim Willes of Lake Point. “We fought and fought and fought it back in 1998 and then the county commission went ahead and approved it even though we had a hundred hours of meetings disagreeing with everything in it. Now he wants to vacate Lakeshore and he will also need to vacate Sunset and that’s part of the historic Lincoln Highway. It’s going to be shut down and blocked off to build a collector route right through the middle of historic Lake Point.”
Some residents objected not only to the rerouting of Lakeshore, but they also opposed the proposed route for Saddleback Boulevard, the main collector route through the Saddleback development.
“The removal of Lakeshore creates problems of going from point A to point B in a straight line,” said Lisa McGaha of Lake Point. “The collector road probably needs to be built somewhere, but I don’t know that it needs to be four lanes behind somebody’s house.”
Willes also commented on the proposed collector road route that comes off of state Route 36 at the stop light near Flying J.
“If anyone tries to go by the truck stop to get on the highway going to and from Lake Point, you take your life in your hands,” said Willes. “Those truckers don’t slow down for anything or anybody, and now you’re going to take a collector along that truck stop. You’re asking for the worst intersection on SR-36. There must be other options.”
Mark Gines of Lake Point said opposing the change of Lakeshore Drive was a “last straw” effort to oppose the collector route after 20 years of fighting.
“I think the reason everybody stood up and said we got to stop this road was to try and reevaluate the highway,” Gines said. “It’s been shoved down our throats and the signs for the road change have already been put up.”
Not all residents opposed the rerouting of Lakeshore Drive and the new proposed route for the new collector road.
“I support the new collector system,” said Sunset Road resident Mike Marshall. “We need an additional route into and out of Lake Point.”
Commissioner Shawn Milne made a motion to deny the request to close part of Lakeshore Drive, but his motion failed for lack of a second.
“It’s not that I am actually opposed to this,” said Milne. “I’m not overly opposed to what you’re asking for. I’m opposed to how it’s going down. I’m opposed that there’s not more outreach. The concept plan has been approved but we need more details. I feel uncomfortable because I don’t know the regionality of it. This is little bit of a surprise. What bigger surprises are we not informed about?”
Bateman made a motion to approve the closure of the request to close a portion of Lakeshore Drive. Commission Chairman Wade Bitner seconded the motion.
The commission voted 2-1, with Milne opposing, to approve the vacation of a portion of Lakeshore Drive.
Bitner explained that the vote only involved the 600-yard portion of Lakeshore Drive, not the proposed collector road.