NORTH SALT LAKE -- After decades of promises the proposal from a new group to build a village center in the old North Salt Lake gravel pit looks promising. The Compass Group teamed with the IBI Group to present conceptual plans to the North Salt Lake City Council and Planning Commission Tuesday for a walkable community, which would house close to 1,500 new residents. While the development is in the preliminary stages city officials are anxious for details. The village would be occupied with restaurants, banks, shops, office buildings, bike trails, ponds, etc. The proposed community will be medium to higher density and trees would be planted to help stabilize the land, according to Steve Lowe, President with Compass Development group.

In the proposal there is a total of 570 housing units. A total of 160 condominiums will be located on the upper portion of the hill and 410 condominiums which will be on the lower portion of the hill along with shops, restaurants and office spaces.

In the proposal 11.8 acres will be reserved for office space, 8.6 acres will be reserved for retail, 14.9 acres will be reserved for the lower residential area and 21.3 acres of residential will be reserved for the upper portion of the property.

There will be 10 different types of condominium homes in the village plan. There will be adequate parking for all uses. Some of the parking will be shared.

The Compass Group wants the village to be a walkable environment. They plan to add trails, places for residents to sit and street-scaping. The village plan will be a higher end development, said Lowe.

Developers think the village will take about eight years to build. Ray Whitchurch, the planning manager with the IBI Group, said the upper half will go quickly and the lower half will need time to come together.

Traffic issues were the main concern city officials voiced in the meeting.

North Salt Lake's Mayor Kay Briggs is hoping to reserve a spot for a possible light rail connection or a Bus Rapid Transit(BRT) stop on the property.

Lynn Ballard with the city council was excited about the idea but said the same thing was supposed to happen at Foxboro but it hasn't gone through. He hopes this plan can go all the way.

The IBI Group and the Compass Group said they would meet with the planning commission June 6 to get the conceptual plan approval and then with the city council June 13 to get zoning approval.

Presuming everything goes as plans IBI hopes to start building next year.



sclarke@davisclipper.com