SANTAQUIN — The first dirt will be turned this spring as developers start building a master-planned community that will nearly double the size of this southern Utah County town.
The city quietly approved the 2,270-acre annexation in December after working with the developers for two years.
The development, called Summit Ridge, will include a pair of golf courses, a major golf club and clubhouse, a high-tech industrial park planned as a mini-Silicon Valley and homes for thousands of residents on the rolling hills just south of Santaquin.
Five years and about $2 million have gone into the research, planning and some land acquisition, said Kent Kunz, managing member of Summit Ridge Development LLC, the group spearheading the project.
The company controls all the acreage and holds options on parcels it hasn't yet obtained.
Construction on the first golf course is scheduled to start in April. Road construction will begin in May or June, Kunz said.
Some 3,000 residents make their homes in Santaquin now, but that could more than quadruple over the next 15 years.
Summit Ridge will put Santaquin on the map, Mayor LaDue Scovill said. "It will give us an opportunity to compete with the rest of the county for recognition," he said. It will also boost the town's property and sales tax base, he said.
No resident has objected, Scovill said, but some have voiced concern that it could turn downtown into a blighted area.
His usual reply? "If that's what you want, but it doesn't have to be that way," he says.
"It's gonna be big," said city receptionist Sharon Davis, who loves Santaquin as a quiet little town. "I'll just retire and go somewhere else to live."
Compared with another Utah County master-planned community — The Ranches in Eagle Mountain — Summit Ridge is about the same size but will have fewer homes and more open space, about half of it in golf courses and open areas, project manager Bob Lynds said.
Lynds also worked on The Ranches development.
Nearly 3,300 homes are planned. "These will be from entry-level to million-dollar estates," Kunz said.
The community will tie into Santaquin's sewer, and Summit Ridge will build three 1 million-gallon water tanks.
The golf clubhouse and golf courses should be finished by mid-2002, before the first residential foundation is poured, he said.
Union Pacific Railroad tracks run through the planned community, creating a natural barrier between the residential and industrial portions.
A town center with a golf practice field is in the middle of the 350-acre commercial and industrial park, according to the plan submitted to the Santaquin City Council and approved in June.
Developers envision 2 million square feet of industrial and commercial space and up to 7,000 new jobs when the project is complete.
Developers also want a satellite branch of Utah Valley State College to locate near the industrial park and have set aside 25 acres for that.
"They have pitched their concept to us," said Derek Hall, a school spokesman. "It is a possibility. We are shopping for a place down there. We're using Spanish Fork High School for classes now, especially at night."
Nearly 130 acres of the newly annexed property is in Juab County.
The City Council may name a committee of residents along with developers to work on integrating the old Santaquin with the new Santaquin. That could include planning for walking trails and bike paths to join the two together.
E-MAIL: rodger@desnews.com