The Planning Commission on Thursday is likely to recommend a zoning change that would allow construction of a shopping center at one of the city's last open sites along 700 East.
The City Council could vote on the recommendation as early as next Tuesday."That's the only major intersection left on the Seventh East corridor that makes sense for commercial development," said Planning Director George Shaw. "It's the only corner there where you can do a nice neighborhood center and do it right."
There is opposition to the development on the northeast corner of 700 East and 7800 South, however. At public hearings some residents have stated worries that it will bring unwanted light, noise and more traffic to the already busy intersection.
The builders, Johansen Thackery & Co. of Salt Lake City, plan to anchor the center with a Harmon's supermarket, and Shaw said numerous other retail businesses will augment it. The development is on about 8.5 acres.
Homeowners to the north are especially concerned about the project, but Shaw said the city will require the builders to include landscaping and walls to minimize the impact. The Union Community Council is also against the extension of residential Chad Street, a cul-de-sac that could be opened up to 7800 South to facilitate the development.
And Shaw noted plans by others to build a subdivision immediately to the east: "We're trying to be sensitive too, to what's going to be there in the future."
Still, planners concede the development will undoubtedly bring more traffic to a corner that is already a serious bottleneck during rush hours as commuters from north Sandy and adjacent unincorporated Salt Lake County make their way to and from Interstate 215.
In a December memo to the city's Planning Department, Public Works Director Darrel M. Scow cautioned against construction, however, until 700 East is widened to five lanes, a project that should begin this spring. He said, too, that the development will require improvements along 7800 as well and that the developers should shoulder some of those costs.
And Mayor Tom Dolan said he wonders about the prudence of creating more 7800 South traffic without widening that road.
"We need to address that. We can't just ignore it," said Dolan.
If granted, the zoning change would turn the parcel into commercial real estate rather than residential.
Known as part of the Klinnell Annexation, the land was incorporated into Sandy last year. The city for some time had been providing water to the area.
Specific site plans haven't been revealed, but a memo from city planners says commercial developments typically build about 1,000 square feet of leasable space per acre. According to zoning codes, a neighborhood center like the one proposed would include between 30,000 and 100,000 square feet.