SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — Residents attended Tuesday night's South Jordan Planning Commission meeting to share their views with officials about an 18-acre parcel of land to be rezoned for townhomes.
Chase Passey’s home in South Jordan overlooks open space and the Jordan River Trail.
"This is an amazing view, this is what we paid for,” he said. "For us, it’s more than just an open space. It’s our little sanctuary that we don’t want to have ruined.”
Passey waited almost six hours at Tuesday night's South Jordan planning commission meeting to share their views with officials.
"Ultimately, that’s going to disrupt the wildlife and the ecosystem, and once that wildlife is gone, it’s not going to come back,” said Passey.
A concern for some people is that they thought this land was designated as protected forest land.
"So along the Jordan River, which does have protected land all around it, there’s actually about 300 acres along the Jordan River of open space, about 180 acres of those are actually owned by the city, and many of those conversation easements, so they are protected. This particular piece is not one of those,” said Rachael Van Cleave, with the city of South Jordan.
If these plans go through, the city said the developer has agreed to maintain some of the wetlands there. The planning commission did not recommend that the city council approve the rezoning. But the project does go in front of the council next week.
"As a city, we are committed to maintaining open space,” said Van Cleave. They also want to address the housing crisis. "We are playing our role in helping and working with developers, but in a way maintains the quality of life that we have here in South Jordan,” she added.
South Jordan City Council is expected to vote on the proposal and make a final decision on Tuesday, Nov 19.
