Draper City suspends decision to declare 120-acre of SunCrest property as surplus

At the city council meeting on January 7 Draper City made the decision to suspend declaring 120 acres of SunCrest property as surplus. Declaring property as surplus is Draper Citys formal declaration of their intent to sell the property to interested parties. After a property is declared as surplus a request for proposals ‘or RFPs’ are released to begin looking at different uses for the land.

The 100-acre parcel located near the Highland/Alpine drew a large response from Highland city residents.  Residents presented a petition of 120+ residents asking Draper City not to declare the property as surplus. Among their concerns were lot premiums paid by residents for ‘open space’, disturbance of wildlife, less accessible access to the trail system, new infrastructure, water concerns, existing power lines in the area, and the overall difficulty of building on the terrain. Draper City explained their intent would be to not add any infrastructure to this particular parcel.

The 20-acre parcel located near the existing Maple Hollow subdivision didn’t receive as much attention from the public. Draper City explained this parcel they believe would be much easier for a developer to submit plans for as most of the infrastructure is already there.  Residents from SunCrest asked questions wondering if this is the first of more ‘surplus’ properties yet to be released and when can we expect to have a more permanent plan of what will happen with the 2300+ acres Draper City purchased in 2012.  It was also brought before Draper City that both properties lay within SunCrests governing documents and both parcels would be subject to its rules and regulations.

Draper City indicated declaring these parcels as surplus is the first step in helping repay 5.6 million that purchased the 2300+ acres. They reiterated their intent is to keep as much of the SunCrest property as open space but from the beginning these were 2 of the 3 parcels they would try to sell to help recoup costs. The 3 parcel is believed to be in the Deer Ridge community located where the roads ends on the southwest. No information was given to the expected release or size of this potential parcel.

The next public hearing on both the 100-acre and 20-acre parcels will be January 21 at Draper City – 1020 E Pioneer Road.