Comments Due for West Davis Environmental Impact Study

Although I didn't post the dates of the open house back at the end of February (oops), Open House information is online, and the study team is accepting comments about the planned corridor through western Davis and Weber Counties (through 12th Street in Ogden). You can view Open House information at http://www.udot.utah.gov/westdavis/files/event/WDC_Get_Involved_page_Scoping_Mtg_Docs_Feb_2010.pdf and submit comments at http://www.udot.utah.gov/westdavis/get_involved#contact. If you include your email in your comment and check the box, you will receive approximately monthly email updates about the project. The study team has asked for feedback on the following questions:

• What issues in your community are important to you?
• What environmental resources in your community are important to you (air quality,
• noise, wetlands, etc.)?
• What alternatives should we consider (i.e. roadway, buses, trains, bike facilities, trails, etc.)?
• Where should any new transportation alternatives be located?
• What else should we study?

You may either submit comments in the online form (linked above), or ask questions and make comments:

Learn about the study | www.udot.utah.gov/westdavis

Call us toll-free | 1-877-298-1991

Email | westdavis@utah.gov

Mail | 466 North 900 West Kaysville, UT 84037

New Google Maps rendition of North Legacy corridor alignment

Wasatch Front Regional Council has released a new Google Earth map of the Recommendation Most Likely to Be Advanced. I wasn't able to figure out how to view it in my browser, but if you have Google Earth installed in your computer, it's easily opened with Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/). The Map can be found at the Wasatch Front Regional Council home page (http://wfrc.org/cms/index.php), or directly at this link.

If you've seen the maps but are not sure how close the road comes to your house, this Google map provides the ability to pinpoint your location and see it in relation to the planned alignment.

Live in Box Elder County or unincorporated Weber County?

When the North Legacy Study wraps up and the final recommendations are made, the previous contact information on this blog for making comments and giving feedback will no longer be valid.

For those of you who want to remain informed and involved as the planning of North Legacy goes forward, the Study Team recommends that you stay in touch with your city government. If you are in Box Elder County or unincorporated Weber County, the officials that you will need to contact with questions or comments are as follows (they have been attending Study Team meetings):

Box Elder County:
Brian Carver, Community & Economic Development Director of Bear River Association of Governments: 435-752-7242

Weber County:
Jan Zogmaister, Weber County Commissioner: 801-399-8406
Curtis Christensen, County Engineer: 801-399-8374
Becky Messerly and Doug Hansen, Planning Commissioners: 801-399-8791

KSL story: Preferred route for Legacy extension determined

Moottoritie - Highway
Originally uploaded by dotsi

View original story

Preferred route for Legacy extension determined
June 22nd, 2009 @ 12:11pm
By Marc Giauque

WEBER COUNTY -- Transportation planners think they're narrowing down a preferred route for the northernmost section of the Legacy Parkway.

It still could be 20 to 30 years before the highway between 5600 South in Roy and Pleasant View is actually built, but planners hope identifying a corridor now will ultimately allow cities and the county to begin buying parcels of land.

The route was narrowed down from 23 to six alternatives. Number six, the farthest west route, was identified as the preferred route.

"It does work around through the county so that we're trying to preserve, for the most part, the most agricultural developable, or prime agricultural areas," said Ben Wuthrich, project manager for the Wasatch Front Regional Council.

Wuthrich says land owners, and the city and county worked together to come up with the route, which is likely to slightly change in coming years.

Once the route is finalized, cities and the county can adopt the route into their master plans and possibly buy land for the corridor as it comes available.

E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com

Comments Needed on North Legacy Alignments

If you were not able to make the open house for North Legacy last night, here is the information you'll need in order to make comments and suggestions to the study team (source: http://wfrc.org):

North Legacy - Weber County Study
North Legacy Fact Sheet
North Legacy Open House - June 10, 2009 - Click here for Newsletter
2009 Alignment for Evaluation
North Legacy Open House Display Boards
Comment Sheet Online

This is likely the last opportunity for public comment before the study team makes its recommendation to UDOT. Send your comments as soon as possible to Amy, whose information is below. In addition, she can answer your questions or find someone who can.

Direct any comments or questions to:
Amy Steinbrech
Public Involvement Manager
Wilkinson Ferrari & Co.
1371 East 2100 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
Fax: 801.364.0072
E‐mail: amy@wfandco.com

Open House tomorrow, June 10, 5-7 p.m. for North Legacy Corridor Study

Sorry for the late notice, but most of you I believe are on the mailing list (either email or snail mail) so hopefully know about this already. There is a public Open House tomorrow evening for the North Legacy Corridor Study. The Open House is designed to give the public an opportunity to meet the study team and ask questions, as well as to submit comments about the possible alignments.

I hope to post more information soon about the possible alignments! In the meantime, hightail it over to the open house if you can.

Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Time: 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Location: West Weber Elementary Gymnasium
4178 W 900 S.
Ogden, UT 84404

Meeting for northern Plain City residents with North Legacy team, May 4

We have organized a meeting for residents of northern Plain City (especially those at the very northern edge of Weber County along 4000 North) and the North Legacy project management team. It will be held at the Graves home, 3766 W 4000 N, at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 4. Representatives from the alignment study team will be there with a large map, information about the different alignments, and handouts outlining their process for arriving at the different alignments. This will be in advance of a public open house on June 10. We'd like to ask that if you are not affected by the current possible alignments, that you consider waiting until the public open house or contacting the project's Account Manager directly for an update. Her information is below.

Amy Steinbrech
Account Manager
Wilkinson Ferrari & Company
(801) 856-6495
amy@wfandco.com

Update on North Legacy study

The steering committee for the North Legacy preservation study began meeting again last November to go back to the drawing board and come up with some alternative alignments. They have identified six possible alignments through northern Weber County and are currently meeting with landowners and concerned residents to share information and get feedback prior to the next public open house on June 10.

I sat in on a neighborhood meeting in Warren and received the following handout from the project management team (representatives from Interplan, Wilkinson Ferrari, and Wasatch Front Regional Council who are working with UDOT on this study). It's a large file, so it may take some time to load. The map of the six alignments is on page 2. http://sarahurd.com/northlegacy/2009-04-20NorthLegacyhandout.pdf

North Legacy alignments north
Originally uploaded by Sara's Pics

Here are also some photos that I took of the large map. Click through for larger sizes or notes.

Response: property owner meetings and selection

This morning
Originally uploaded by Andreas Reinhold

In answer to my questions, "how are property owners being selected?" and "how will they be contacted and interviewed?" I received the following:

There are about 7-8 families that have large land holdings and also control most of the agricultural protection areas. These ag. lands raised the most (but certainly not all) of the controversy in unincorporated Weber County. Our approach was to begin meeting (in person) with these families to better understand their concerns and see if there are options that they support. Obviously, depending on their options there would be other people that we would need to coordinate with. The Open House format was not the most productive format to work out options so we anticipate some combination of smaller meetings with either individual property owners or groups of property owners as well as an open house to make sure we provide have a chance to include everyone. Late summer and early fall has turned out to be a bad time to meet with people involved in farming, so we are hoping to work at a pace that is convenient to those affected. The ultimate goal of the project is long term corridor preservation, so there is no urgency on our part other than to respect and work with people like you who may have opinions and ideas but also want answers to build a life around.

Amy Steinbrech from Wilkinson Ferrari is heading up much of the public coordination efforts. Amy is replacing Bethany Matsumori (who is having a baby) so she may not be fully up to speed yet but you are welcome to call Amy (or Bethany for the next few weeks) to get better answers from them. At this point we have not ”scripted” a detailed meeting plan and hope to cater it to the concerns that we hear when we begin meeting with the large agricultural interests.

Plain City's recommended North Legacy alignment

Plain City General Plan - north
Originally uploaded by Sara's Pics

I finally made it over to the City building to take a look at the proposed alignment for North Legacy. What I found was interesting... take a look. You may want to click on over to Flickr in order to view it larger (click on "all sizes" up above the photo).

See the red line on the west? That's the proposed alignment. It runs on 5100 West until north of the Sewer Treatment Facility, then turns slightly east. However, here's where it gets significantly different. the blue road on the north right next to the Box Elder County line is 4000 North. The state's recommended alignment - both option 1 and 2 - cut 3900 West and the corner to travel along 4000 North up to Smith & Edwards and I-15. Plain City's recommended alignment goes west of any existing (on the north end) homes out into Box Elder County - past Willard Bay, I suppose. The map doesn't show how it goes east.

One other item of note. The pink road in the bottom left quadrant of the picture is 2500 North. The pink road doesn't currently exist in its entirety; it ends at 4500 West (where the purple area ends). At one point, the road was planned to extend to a subdivision; now it looks like it will be the connecting road to the North Legacy corridor.

I suggest that you go take a look at the map if you get a chance. It's in the City Council chamber at the City Offices.