Graduate students from the University of Utah see nothing that would prevent Tooele City from becoming a leader in the development of new renewable energy technologies — and they have a plan to make it happen.
The students, all working toward degrees in architecture and urban planning, are part of a special workshop class that has partnered with Tooele City to develop a master plan for the future of the city’s education corridor.
That corridor, an area on the west side of Tooele, includes Utah State University – Tooele Regional Campus, Tooele Applied Technology College, and the Community Learning Center.
After spending more than a month analyzing the site and researching similar projects across the country, the students presented preliminary plans to members of the Tooele City Council on Wednesday afternoon.
The class presented three plans, each with various details and options, but all three followed a common theme, which envisions the education corridor as a research park and community center that the city could construct in phases as the valley grows.
Each of the plans also looked at incorporating sustainable transportation into the corridor, calling for an expanded bus system, bike lanes, and amenities such as trees, planters, shaded walks and benches to make the area more attractive to pedestrians.
The plans also called for various kinds of community buildings and amenities to attract residents to the area — most envisioned some kind of community center with meeting spaces, rooms for rent, and perhaps an eatery or convenience center.
But each of the three plans had unique features highlighted by the student presenters. One plan called for parking structures shaded by solar panels that could supplement energy production at the site. Another detailed a re-zone that would bring medium- and high-density housing into the area, as well as two-story mixed-use structures with retail shops at the center of the development.
The third mapped out a lattice of trails connecting numerous “parklets” and a community building with space for start-up companies.
The trail system was especially popular with members of the city council, who praised the proposals for the park-like atmosphere the plans created, but called on the students to ensure the plan was well integrated into neighborhoods that surround the future research park.
“I’m not fond of reinventing Tooele,” said Councilman Steve Pruden. “That sounds like there’s something wrong with it. This is more like enhancing Tooele.”
The students will have a few more weeks to put together a final plan, which they should present to the city council and to the public at the end of the month.