Erda neighbors rallied at Tuesday night’s Tooele County Commission meeting to oppose a plan that would put 174 homes on one-third acre lots in an east Erda neighborhood zoned for 5-acre rural residential parcels.
Tuesday night’s public hearing at the county building was the second one held for the Shoshone Village development agreement.
The first was held during the county commission’s Sept. 11 meeting, but it was continued until Tuesday’s meeting because neither the county’s planning staff or the developer were present at the first meeting to give a report on the agreement.
Lynn Butterfield, Tooele County Planning Commission Chairman and a branch broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, gave a presentation on the development agreement prior to the public hearing.
At the first public hearing 12 people spoke. All 12 of them opposed the development.
After Butterfield’s presentation on Tuesday night, 31 people spoke. All of them opposed the development.
One of the Erda residents opposed to the plan for Shoshone Village was Terri Farley.
“I believe it is a mistake what you are doing,” she said. “I think we need to be wise in how we develop. Yes, development needs to happen. Our population is growing. We need that housing, but be wise where you are putting it. Putting it next to farmers and people who live on five acres with horses and chickens, those people [moving in] aren’t going to be happy with my horses and chickens. Who’s going to start getting complaints against them and who’s going to be outnumbered? It’s not fair.”
Farley was also concerned with the scarcity of water in the Erda area.
“Back when Stansbury Park put in their big wells in Erda, a lot of people in Erda had the water level in their wells drop,” Farley said. “They had to drill their wells deeper and pay more in electricity because it costs more to bring that water up from a deeper level. Some maybe even had to put in a larger pump. Who’s going to pay me when my water level drops?”
The development agreement for Shoshone Village calls for 8.9 acres of commercial retail property on the west end of the property adjacent to state Route 36 and 174 lots of approximately one-third acre each for single-family residences on the rest of the property that stretches from SR-36 to Droubay Road. The plans show two parks, which together total 9.3 acres, in the residential neighborhood.
“The development model the county has used in the past is no longer sustainable,” Butterfield said.
Butterfield’s presentation explained that the development agreement is in complete compliance with the county’s updated general plan and the county’s transportation and active transportation plan.
The agreement also addresses concerns of the health department, Butterfield said.
The Tooele County Health Department has restricted drilling new wells to parcels no smaller than five acres to protect water quality in Tooele Valley, said Butterfield.
The state Division of Drinking Water is requiring that subdivisions larger than seven houses in Erda to put in a community water system instead of individual wells. Reducing the number of holes drilled for wells also protects the water quality, according to Butterfield.
Under the development agreement, developers and residents, not the county, would bear the cost of building, maintaining, and operating a regional water system, including creating a water conservancy district. The developers would also bear the cost to build infrastructure that connects Shoshone Village with Stansbury Park Improvement District’s wastewater system, according to Butterfield.
“This development agreement protects Tooele County and its citizens,” Butterfield said.
Heidi Kroger, Erda, was concerned about the compatibility of the proposed development with the Erda neighborhood.
“Don’t drop a high density subdivision in the middle of 5-acre lots,” she said.
Wes Shields, Erda, was concerned about developers making money at the expense of Erda’s rural nature.
“My treasures are being taken away by people wanting to develop land to make money,” he said. “The story is it’s to make housing for people, but it’s to make money for people. I really oppose the change in zoning. It was a good principle to begin with and still is a good principle.”
The development agreement for Shoshone Village has not been reviewed by the Tooele County Planning Commission. Development agreements are not required to be reviewed by the planning commission prior to action by the county commission.
Development agreements, essentially a contract between the county and a developer, are legislative items approved by the county’s legislative body, the county commission, according to the Tooele County Attorney.
The proposed Shoshone Village development agreement states, “the county and developer intend that this agreement be construed to grant developer all vested rights to develop the project in fulfillment of the terms and provisions of this agreement.”
If the county commission approves the development agreement, however, the developer will still need to submit the necessary applications for zoning and subdivision approval.
The approval of the higher density of 0.33 acres per unit is in exchange for the developer bearing the cost to design and construct sewer and water system facilities, according to the agreement.
Shoshone Village’s developer, BRK & H, LLC, is a Salt Lake City-based company that lists Val Staker and Jay Harwood as managers in their registration with the Utah Department of Commerce.
The county commission did not vote on the development agreement during its Tuesday night meeting.
A decision on the Shoshone Village development agreement is on the county commission’s Oct. 2 meeting agenda. That meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in room 321 of the county building at 47 S. Main Street in Tooele City.