Old adage: When people seem to behave in an inexplicable manner, follow the money. Developers tend to look at vacant land and see only dollars.
The funny thing is those homes are not expensive. They are the epitome of the old Pete Seeger song, ālittle boxes on the hillsideā¦and they all look just the same.ā They are cookie cutter with no yard. Developers must have made a killing
3 Likes
I canāt believe it took my wife and I so long to come up with this, but why doesnāt Edge Homes hire SpaceXās PR firm and just start describing this as an, āunplanned rapid demolition,ā then pretend like itās not big deal?
7 Likes
Or call it a Large Mobile Home.
3 Likes
Building a house on the side of a mountain in beach sand never ends well.
1 Like
On a related note, Edge Homes will be renaming their company Cliffhanger Homes.
7 Likes
Itās okay. When the āBig Oneā Earthquake finally happens weāll all just sink in quicksand and there wonāt be anyone left to complain or blame.
3 Likes
Ive seen that it isnāt just āBonneville Beachā but also volcanic deposit accumulation (at deeper levels, below the sand and gravel) that came from someone with the state or other scientific entity addressing the geology of Traverse āmountainsā
anyone want to guess how many of the people buying in that area might considered themselves faithful LDS folk, but apparently ignored the New Testament commentary about building your house on sand? Sighā¦ I have basic human compassion for the loss and suffering, but certainly no actual EMPATHY, as Iāve never been stupid enough to buy into something that simple logic tells you is a very very risky situation. I dont want anyone to lose so much value etc that means a lot to them, but like any decent parent, will look at them and sayā¦ ādid you even stop to think?ā. A sad but valid case of people must learn the hard way from their mistakes. The entire situation also highlights the raging stupidity/cupidity involved in our state law pretty much forcing municipalities to allow landowners to build on their property, no matter how horribly suited said property is for such things. Just owning a chunk of land (cue the old Colors of the Wind song as commentary) is not some guarantee you can do with it whatever you please. I think back 30 years to when I realized Draper was annexing up and over the ridge/county line (I still wonder how the hell THAT is legal). I canāt remember ever seeing a situation where a city was allowed to annex into another countyā¦ Not even L.A. has that situationā¦ NYC is a special cases of counties just merging together wholesale, so again, a different issue. I knew enough of the geology of the Bonneville basin ans shorelines to know just how insanely stupid it was to be building up there. I swear I remember reading articles 20+ years ago about how Draper had to deal with the reality that the developers were building roads that were themselves unstable and sliding down or something of the sort. Does anyone else remember anything about that?
2 Likes
I seem to remember learning in a 1994 Geology course at the U (the Northridge quake hit during the course and ended up being a tragic but valuable teaching situation) that buildings to the east of the faultline (above it) were gonna fare much better than those further westā¦ The Wasatch fault is a giant oblique one, tracing west and deep (look at the centers of the 2020 quake cluster) and the valley floor is āunconsolidated lakebedā which will liquefy ala the Turnagain area of Anchorage in 1964(?). The whole mountainside slide into the bay. where I am on 5th east will undoubtedly get massively smashed, but at least it wont literally shake to smithereens like West Valley, Kearns, Magna, etc will.
1 Like
1 Like
another issue with building in these areas (particularly on the benches) surrounded by forest is the increased threat of wildfire damage. Thereās a neighborhood directly East of me with expensive homes nestled in groves of scrub oak where fire fighters could only do so much on a windy day with a fire.
It does seem like weāre constantly sidestepping common sense in favor of premiere valley views.
2 Likes
Who knew that Californians would bring more of their problems with them than just their population?
4 Likes
While itās highly unusual for a municipality to straddle 2 county domains, it happens in multiple areas in the state of Utah, not just Draper. Bluffdale City straddles Salt Lake and Utah Counties. Santaquin City straddles Utah and Juab Counties. Hooper City straddles Davis and Weber Counties. Yes it creates some administrative and election district administrative headaches but itās completely legal for a municipality to straddle two counties. Sometimes the biggest issue arises with school district domains that usually adhere to the strict county boundaries. The authority of an incorporated city is separate from county jurisdiction so their powers are distinct. And yes, the original roads that were built in Suncrest in Draper were sometimes constructed below minimum standards. Unfortunately the original developer cut a lot of corners and went bankrupt, leaving the city and Zions Bank holding the bag. A lot of those issues were resolved in the last 15 years but thereās a reason why you donāt build on slopes greater than 30% with heavy sand, clay and fault lines. The original Suncrest entitlement was crafted in what is referred to as the āEstes Development Agreementā from the 1980ās long before Draper incorporated into a city. Utah is viewed as a very pro-private property right state. If a city denies someone the right to build on their property it sets up a legal basis for the developer to sue the municipality for a ātakingā of their property rights. Therefore land use authorities such as cities try to correctly push the engineering and due diligence risk back on the private property owner and their consultants.
2 Likes
Hooper City is NOT incorporated in Davis County, but the historic community of that name does straddle the lineā¦ So that is an incorrect statement.
Bluffdale and Santaquin barely register for this matter (both so incredibly small Iām not surprised I was unaware of it), as opposed to Draper which has nearly a quarter of itās land over the border, in what was originally a completely undeveloped zone. You know someone pulled some serious garbage to get that proposal approved. I certainly donāt recall anything of the sort (fully incorporated municipalities crossing county boundaries) existing when I was growing up here 60s thru 80s. I suspect this might be something extremely rare nationwide, but here in Utah anything goes if you can pay and know the right people. The cautionary tale of the nightmarish nepotistic hotbed of Herriman is there for all to see.
I was in my old neighborhood this afternoon, so I drove down 17th south between 17th and 15th east, I was quite impressed. Theyāve got a very thoughtful set of sandbag structures set up everywhere in what look like very logical places. I think they will do well if the flooding is not something out of a disaster movie.
April started with a triple header of heavy snowstorms with temperatures more suited for January, ended today by setting a new high of 87F, breaking the old record of 84F set way back in 2021.
Also, our disaster recovery vendor is still recovering from their first avalanches near the mouth of Little Cottonwood that took them out for a couple of weeks. (Irony in their predicament)
Reading about the extended closure of LCC that stranded hundreds a few weeks ago was sobering, especially the road crew trapped by 2 avalanches. (Fortunately they had a bulldozer and got out within 16 hours.)
Flexibility, adaptability and resilience are the new chic. Weāll see if the AC works tomorrow, maybe.
2 Likes
Highway 89 closed just south of Highway 6. I drove that route Friday and there was already water on 89 near Thistle.
Itās supposed to reach 90 degrees today. Yes, the worst case scenario is coming to be.
Needless the say, every public works department and volunteer will be out there by this afternoon doing everything they can to minimize the flooding.
On a positive note, maybe the GSL will get enough water covering the dry lakebed spots to keep us from having more haboobs.