HERRIMAN, Utah — Dozens of residents voiced their concerns about a proposed high density housing development in Herriman.
The Salt Lake County Council recently approved rezoning for the Olympia Hills development. Plans call for 9,000 housing units to be built on roughly 900 acres of land near Herriman.
“It is not appropriate to build an entire city in my backyard,” said one resident at a town hall hosted by Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams at Herriman High School.
“It’s great we are growing, but I think we have to step back,” said another person opposed to the plan.
People lined up along the wall of the high school’s auditorium for a chance to address Mayor McAdams for two minutes.
Outside the high school, people protested and collected signatures for a possible ballot referendum to stop the project if county leaders decide it should move forward.
“The Olympia development is as dense as the Bronx, New York,” said Caytlin Sampson, a Herriman resident who was collecting signatures. “We are wearing red to stop the development.”
Sampson and others believe the plan will burden already stressed infrastructure.
“It’s just going to create even more traffic," Sampson said. "Our roads are going to become like highways and it's not safe, it's not smart."
Mayor McAdams says he’ll listen to residents’ concerns and make a decision in the coming days. He is weighing revising the current plan or vetoing it to start from scratch.
Regardless of what happens with this project, residents realize more people are going to move to the area.
Their only hope is that growth doesn’t negatively affect their quality of life.
“[I’m] totally fine with growth, it’s a great area,” said Herriman resident Mark Frisbey. “We’d love to share it with other people as well. We just want to see it done in a responsible manner.”
