NORTH SALT LAKE — Despite initial plans, it looks as though North Salt Lake’s long-delayed Eaglewood Village won’t be doing much growing this spring.

Though construction crews are currently doing road work at the former gravel pit, connecting the development’s entry road into Highway 89 among other things, vertical construction on Eaglewood’s residential areas will likely not start until late this summer. Last winter, there was some hope that home construction would be able to start this spring.

“They’ve (Compass Development) said that they expect to break ground on their first residential development in August of this year,” said North Salt Lake Community Development Director Ken Leetham.

As far as the city is concerned, there’s not much that needs to be done before then.

“They still need to apply for a building permit, but everything else is finished.,” said Leetham. “They’re ready to go.”

In addition to connecting the development’s entry road, crews are also doing curb and gutter work on Highway 89 itself. Those improvements are part of a deal Compass Development made with North Salt Lake officials last December, along with an agreement to start work on widening Highway 89, adding an extra turn lane, and creating a new roundabout.

All of these improvements were part of early agreements Compass made with the city back in 2007, and the current agreement merely adjusted the time of the work.

In exchange, the city agreed to let the developer start on residential development without having already completed 50,000 square feet of commercial construction as they had originally promised.

“It was a tough decision,” said North Salt Lake Mayor Len Arave of the council’s decision to approve the new agreement. “But with the economy the way it is, the fact of the matter is that it’s tough to get commercial started.”

It’s been tough to get Eaglewood Village started as well. Though ground was broken on the development in late 2007, the housing slump, the recession, complaints, and a host of other factors have kept the development mostly quiet over the last few years. Work on drainage, roads, curbs, landscaping and gutters has been interspersed with periods of complete inactivity.

“I think it’s important for the project to get some development started,” said Leetham.

When it does, the first things to spring up will likely be multi-family units. The developer got started with the design development phase of their multi-family residences last winter, which goes into detail on architectural and structural systems as well as costs.

“It’s harder for young people to purchase homes,” said Leetham, explaining that there aren’t as many financing options available. “Apartments are another option, and because of that they’re a really good market right now for developers.”

jwardell@davisclipper.com