WEST JORDAN -- When it's finished, the 300-acre Commons at Cobble Creek project will be one of those self-contained planned communities "within a community" that tend to drive urban planners to a state of euphoric seizure.
A mixture of single- and multiple-unit family dwellings will be neatly blended with parks, professional offices and appropriate light retail stores designed mainly to meet the needs of the people who live and work there.With pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods and ample open space, the development will showcase the lifestyle concepts planners like to call "The New Urbanism."
And the West Jordan City Council began laying the procedural groundwork for the project Tuesday night, scheduling a public hearing for March 16.
The proposed development lies between 7800 and 8200 South from 4800 to 5600 West, a 32-square-block area that currently is zoned for a mixture of agricultural and commercial/office uses.
At build-out, council members were told, the Commons at Cobble Creek will be the largest planned community in West Jordan with the most diverse mix of uses and population densities.
Some 43 acres of the project would be set aside for retail businesses and office buildings while nearly 28 acres would be reserved for a school, a fire station, a water tank and three churches.
Subtract 48-plus acres for parks, open space and drainage channels plus another 61 acres for roads, and that leaves about 120 acres for residential development in the form of single-family homes, cluster housing, townhouses and an apartment complex.
City planner Brian Maxfield said the residential portion of the development would provide about 1,200 housing units.
They would be spread over 40 percent of the 300 acres with a density averaging between 2.5 and 4.0 units per acre.
Maintenance costs of the parks and open spaces would be covered by a homeowners association that would collect dues from residents of the planned community, the council was told.
Developer Leon Peterson, who has built a number of local projects, will take his Commons proposal to West Jordan's Planning and Zoning Commission March 3 to seek approval.
The next stop will be the March 16 council meeting when the public hearing takes place.
Neighboring residents who want to take a closer look at the project will be able to check the master development plan and other documents on a Web site set up by Copperhills area residents.
The Web address will be announced at a future date, once the documents become available.