October 27, 2015 – Bountiful, Utah’s City Council is holding a public hearing on Tuesday, October 27, 2015 to consider the supporting a private developer’s quest to acquire ~160 acres of US Forest Service land in the Bountiful foothills by the gun range. The land would be traded for 160 acres of land above the Maple Hill Subdivision.
According to a flier being circulated on Facebook, a group called Twin Hollow United is asking to, “Help save our mountain!,” saying that “a land developer wants to build as many as 400 new houses on the Forest Service land above Twin Hollow Park (“Cheese Park”, 900 East and 900 North area. To do this, they propose to trade 160 acres of undevelopable land for the land on which families, hikers, and mountain bikers currently use the mountainside around the Bountiful shooting range and the Viewmont “V”.”
A Google map shows that the land in question that the developer wants to obtain would include the Bonneville Shoreline Trail as well as other trails.
From the City Council Packet for the October 27, 2015 Council Meeting, on pages 35-26, it is stated:
Background Developers Ron Crapo and Jaren Davis have requested that the City Council issue a letter of support for their request that Congress approve a land exchange of their privately owned 160 acres above Stone Ridge (just outside the City limits, formerly owned by Ken Patey) for the Forest Service land around the Lion’s Club shooting range. It is their expressed intention to develop part of the land into residences, keep part of the land open, and convey the shooting range itself to the Lion’s Club. The developers have not disclosed any details of their intended project, such as the number or type of residential units or how it will connect to existing streets in Bountiful and Centerville. It is nonetheless clear that the development will raise issues of reducing open space, constructing residences closer to the gun range, housing density, zoning, changing hillside development restrictions, the need to use City-owned land, and annexation of unincorporated areas.
The packet also states that there will be significant impacts to the hillside, and as such, a public hearing is being held.
The outcomes are that “After receiving input the Council may choose to formally endorse the land exchange through a letter to be prepared by the City or may choose to take no action and to let the land exchange proposal be handled solely by Congress and the Forest Service.”
The council meeting and public hearing will be held Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 7 pm at 790 S. 100 E. at Bountiful City Hall. Questions regarding the land swap can be answered by calling the Bountiful City Planning Director at 801-298-6190.
The Notice of Public Hearing can be found here: http://www.utah.gov/pmn/files/185661.pdf
The flier:
