Utah is one of the fastest developing states in the country. With these latest plans for Draper, Utah, this development could create an incredible “15-minute city” in between Salt Lake City and Provo. With the Utah State Prison planning to shut down in 2022, the state government has been working with private contractors to construct a six hundred acre futuristic community to replace it that will be (hopefully) sustainable. The name of this community? The Point.
For the skier demographic that will eventually populate “The Point”, there are various advantages to living there. With “The Point” being adjacent to I-15, it’s under forty minutes from Snowbird, Alta, and Sundance Mountain Resort, under forty-five minutes from Solitude and Brighton, under an hour from Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley, and under ninety minutes from the Ogden Resorts(Snowbasin, Nordic Valley, and Powder Mountain).
According to the Deseret News, some of the major features of this development will include:
- “At the center of The Point, a district called The Hub is envisioned to feature entertainment options and restaurants. Renderings show a plaza with an outdoor stage and a fountain. If Draper Mayor Troy Walker had his way, he’d like to see a ‘major league stadium’ or a major event center to attract people across the world.
- Threaded throughout The Point, as planned, would be a web of 140 acres of open, walkable green spaces — what Matheson called ‘greenways’ to allow people to move through the community without ever using a road. A ‘central park’ is also planned at the center of the community.
- The West’s drought is top-of-mind for Utahns. Where would all the water come from to support this massive project? Working with Draper and the local water provider, Jordan Valley Conservancy District, ‘they assure us the water is there,’ Matheson said. ‘Beyond that, we want this to be wise water use.’ He said the development will be sustainably focused and will use about 40% of the water used in today’s typical development.
- A ‘river to range’ corridor would link the entire community to the Jordan River Parkway and the foothills of the Wasatch, including Draper’s massive Corner Canyon hiking and biking trail network.
- For transportation, the focus is on making sure ‘car is not king,’ Walker told the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards. It’s designed to be a ‘one-car community,’ where a family would likely only need one car to ‘take trips on the weekends,’ Matheson said. To do that, plans include connections to FrontRunner and two bus rapid transit lines with dedicated lanes and signal prioritization.
- Self-driving vehicles are also included in the framework or automated ‘circulators’ that would move people along designated routes.”
As a former resident of Utah, one concern comes to mind: Can the state handle this type of growth when a major water crisis is ongoing? They can use the word sustainable all they want, but tens of thousands of people are going to use up a lot of water.
You can view their executive summary here.
