RIVERTON — Farm today, gone tomorrow.
That's what dozens are buzzing about these days — a 54-acre alfalfa field, tended by one of Riverton's last farmers, slated to become one large, fully developed mixed-use parcel.
The City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday to determine just how high a density it is willing to allow in an area of multifamily zoning. The following week the council will consider a zoning change to the alfalfa field that could make way for multifamily residential dwellings, offices and light industry.
This week council members mulled over a collection of letters and previously recorded comments from a pocket of residents who have an eye on their future neighbor, Anderson Development. Young and old, they all weighed in.
In the words of a ninth-grade student and "future voter and taxpayer" who wrote the Riverton City Council, "My family moved here about four years ago. We were looking for a place that was more of a suburban area than a metropolitan area of Salt Lake City. . . . Almost 100 percent of the citizens that moved to Riverton moved here because it has a countrylike atmosphere. If you approve Mr. (Gerald) Anderson's plan, those same people will either stay here and complain to you or simply move away."
Other Riverton residents echoed the boy's sentiment.
Attorney and former Riverton Mayor Dale F. Gardiner, speaking on behalf of some residents, wrote the council, ". . . the rezone would adversely affect their rural lifestyle and activities." Citing Utah Code, Gardiner added, "Nor would the proposed change . . . foster the State's agricultural and other industries, protect both urban and nonurban development, or protect property values."
Others see the new development as an economic necessity.
Planning Commissioner Marvin Dodge feels he represents a silent majority among Riverton's estimated 30,000 residents, saying he "warmly" embraces the new development. With city services and a $5 million annual budget stretched to its limit, Dodge hinted at a need for higher-density residential developments that would help increase the city's tax base.
Dodge urged the council to control growth, to prevent "cheap or shoddy" development and to live up to the city's moral responsibility to provide appropriate housing for everyone. "The debate over the Anderson rezone is not a debate over traffic flow, overcrowded schools, office buildings or retail stores — it's a debate over the future of our community. Riverton's density will be determined by your vote."
And for the developer, it's simply a matter of accepting the inevitable.
"As we all know, change is unavoidable in such a growing and vibrant part of Utah," wrote Anderson attorney Michael L. Hutchings. "This area of Southwestern Riverton and the surrounding cities of Bluffdale and Herriman, have been identified as the fastest-growing area of Utah for the next 30 years." Hutchings also represents Anderson in Bluffdale, where the developer is trying to build high-density housing amid that city's changing yet wide-open landscape.
With the huge Intel Corp. campus nearby — which Gov. Mike Leavitt will help dedicate Friday — and property around the alfalfa field eyed for development, Councilman Mark Easton predicted, "The whole area is going to develop. The whole area is going to commercialize."
E-MAIL: sspeckman@desnews.com