HIGHLAND -- Highland residents, along with the council and mayor, like the idea of a golf course near the mouth of American Fork Canyon.
But they really dislike talk of a new road connecting to the already too-busy 4800 West in Highland City.In an emergency council session Thursday packed with worried residents, the council considered protesting annexation of the "Sage Flats" property to Cedar Hills because of it. Part of the property is in Highland. Most of the acreage is unincorporated county land.
Instead, the council voted unanimously to reject the road plan and inform Cedar Hills officials that access onto 4800 West would never be allowed even though the annexation will be allowed to go through unprotested.
Ken Briggs, who intends to purchase and develop 520 acres known as the Hayes Annexation northeast of Highland, said Cedar Hills is insisting on the road access.
Briggs is planning residential development on 130 acres of the property and a river bottoms golf course on 190 acres. He also promised to put the juniper forest area into a conservation easement, protected forever from development.
Mayor Jess Adamson said he believes the road problem can be worked out peacefully with Cedar Hills and nothing would be gained by protesting the annexation because of it.
"If we protest and we lose the protest, Highland loses all control," Adamson said. Adamson said since only a small portion of the property is in Highland -- property that the city cannot service with culinary water or sewer-- it's likely the county boundary commission would not uphold a protest in Highland's favor.
Adamson said the two cities have pretty well worked through the other major concerns concerning the preservation of the forested hillside, trail easements and protection of the bench area sight line.
Highland city administrator Barry Edwards said protesting would only buy animosity with Cedar Hills and gain virtually nothing.
"A protest does not take us to a bargaining table. It doesn't work that way," said Councilwoman Gwyn Franson. "We have to have a case for protest and we haven't any."
"We feel it's best to work and negotiate with Cedar Hills. We've spent a great deal of time developing a civil relationship with our neighboring cities," Adamson said.
"If we like what we see (proposed) here, we ought to take a look at it," he said.
Briggs, who has been a planning director for Chicago, Lexington, Ky,. and Minneapolis, Minn., said he won't do the development at all if he cannot do an outstanding job.
"We're not the type of developer to come in and try to hoodwink you," he said.
He said money has been spent to conceptualize the golf course. Time has been spent on working out trail access and on traffic patterns. A formal traffic study is under way.
However, Briggs said he will not stick around for a drawn-out legal protest period.
Scott Trainor, Cedar Hills town administrator, said Cedar Hills wants the development to take place because it would ensure a large tract of open green space forever.He said there is a need for an east-west collector road from Canyon Road on the east through to Highland on the west.
You can reach Sharon Haddock by e-mail at haddoc@desnews.com