Slow Economy Could Put Hamper On EM Recycling Program

Eagle Mountain City's website has a poll asking whether residents would be willing to pay up to $7 a month for a curbside recycling program.

According to the Daily Herald, "As of Tuesday morning, 264 people had responded to the survey, with 64 percent saying they supported recycling."

But it appears that EM City Councilman Ryan Ireland has some reservations about such a program with the slumping economy.

The Daily Herald article goes on to say, "Councilman Ryan Ireland cautioned that if the economy continues to stagnate, "$7 a month could be milk instead of recycling. It could become a luxury instead of a necessity.""

Look if $7 a month is determining whether you buy a gallon of milk or not, than your budget was broken long before rising food and oil prices.

I agree with Mayor Jackson for once, give up the second garbage can, which you're being billed for and the $7 a month will be less than you're paying for the extra can.

UVSC (UVU), Eagle Mountain To Team Up?

Eagle Mountain City is in talks to bring a UVSC satellite campus to Eagle Mountain.

New Elementary School Gets Name

The name of the new elementary school being built in the Ranches will be called Hidden Hollow.

Other considerations included Saddle Ridge, Soldier Pass, and Sweetwater.

I think Antelope Hills would have been a fitting name.

Redwood To Get Five Lanes

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Whether trying to avoid traffic on I-15 or Lehi's Main Street — or just getting out of a neighborhood to grocery shop — residents in communities like Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain in Utah County and Herriman and Bluffdale in Salt Lake County, among others, constantly use Redwood Road as a principal thoroughfare.

For the next year-plus they will be inconvenienced by a major construction project, but transportation officials say it will be worth it.

The Utah Department of Transportation is widening Redwood Road from the Bangerter Highway in Bluffdale to 400 South in Saratoga Springs.

Currently a two-lane road, UDOT plans to widen Redwood to five lanes, with bike lanes on both the northbound and southbound sides, said Adan Carrillo, UDOT spokesman.

UDOT will also install underpasses for wildlife to pass through. "It will greatly reduce the amount of collisions people experience out there with wildlife," Carrillo said.

The underpasses will also protect the animals in their migration patterns, he said.

"We're going to build fences that will guide them underneath these passings so they can use them and cross back and forth safely," he said.

Construction has begun on the north side of Camp Williams in Salt Lake County, Carrillo said.

Billed as a "design-build" project, construction starts when the design for a particular area is complete. When construction is finished in one section, workers move on to another phase of the project.

Construction in Utah County hasn't yet started, and with the design-build phasing, UDOT doesn't have a set timetable for when that would begin, Carrillo said.

UDOT has worked with Bluffdale and Saratoga Springs, which are directly affected by the widening.

Ken Leetham, Saratoga Springs city manager, said city officials have had several detailed meetings with UDOT that have kept them informed and their needs met.

"We've had the chance to make requests of UDOT for future utility crossings and things the public needs in the future, (like) storm drains, sewer lines and all those things," Leetham said.

UDOT has also worked with homeowners and business owners that will be affected along the road, though most of the property that will be impacted by the widening in Saratoga Springs is agricultural land.

Leetham said he hadn't received much feedback from residents about the project, but everything he has heard is positive.

"Everybody out here is really happy to see some road widening being done," he said.

During previous public open houses, residents were able to sign up to receive updates every week in a newsletter sent out by UDOT, Carrillo said.

Anyone interested in signing up to receive the e-mail can either call 455-3116 or send an e-mail to sr68info@langdongroupinc.com and ask to be added to the list.

Carrillo said the 10-mile project should be completed in fall 2009.

Many Eager For East West Connector

LEHI — With thousands of people traveling Lehi's Main Street to and from Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain every day, a new road that directs traffic through Lehi is a welcome development for residents.

The Utah Department of Transportation held a public open house last week for the so-called "east-west connector" and its preferred alternative. The road will run at about 1000 South in Lehi from American Fork Main Street to Redwood Road in Saratoga Springs at about 600 North.

Part of the project will be included in the Interstate 15 expansion project, which will reconstruct the American Fork Main Street overpass, said Bryan Adams, UDOT project manager. The project, which is fully funded, will cost $135 million. Part of the $2.6 billion for the I-15 expansion will go to fund the east-west connector from 300 East to the American Fork Main Street overpass, and the $135 million will pay for the road from 300 East to Redwood Road, Adams said. The four-lane road will also have bike lanes and a raised, landscaped median.

So far, the comments UDOT has received from residents concerning the project have been favorable.

"It's been surprising how supportive the community has been with it," Adams said.

The people who are affected by the new road are the same people who travel Lehi Main Street and truly understand the need for another connector, he said.

A corridor exists along 1000 South that allows UDOT to lay a new road without much disruption. Subdivisions have been built on either side of the corridor, and few people will be negatively affected by the project, one reason UDOT picked the alternative, Adams said.

UDOT officials made extra efforts to inform residents about the open houses, handing out 1,000 door hangers in the major residential areas affected in Saratoga Springs and Lehi, encouraging residents to make comments.

Reaching out to residents in another way, UDOT asked the children at Snow Springs Elementary School to name the road. Children from all the classes will submit names to their teachers and on May 19, UDOT and various government officials will choose the new name in an assembly at the school, said Wendy Hansen, UDOT public information specialist.

Several of the residents who attended the meeting said that the road is definitely needed and they were happy to see it come.

Lehi resident David Miller said he felt the road was an important step in meeting the needs of the residents.

"I think they've done a pretty good job with everything they've had to work through," he said.

Although he had thought one of the other alternatives would have been a better choice, he said at the open house he decided they chose the right route.

Residents who attended the open house affirmed Adams' comments about a supportive public.

"Anyone on Lehi Main Street can tell you that something had to change," said Mary Street, a resident and agent for Commerce CRG, a commercial real estate company.

However, worries still remain for some. Kerry Posey, a property owner in Saratoga Springs, said he's worried the road will be adequate for two or three years but will be overcrowded in five or 10.

Vladimir Canro, a developer from South Ogden, said he's worried the connector will force more traffic into his subdivisions and cause traffic problems for homeowners.

UDOT is still accepting public comments, which can be given at www.udot.utah.gov/ewconnector or by calling 753-7344. Construction should begin this fall.

Not All Residents Favor Bike Park

Many of the residents speaking against the park said they would like to see the park, just not in their back yards. They said it would bring strangers to their neighborhood, could produce dust, would need bathrooms, a flash flood could wash dirt onto roads, and there are other needs for recreation money in the city.

Chase's response: C'mon is it really in your "backyard"? You built in a developing city with lots of room for sprawl. If you have open space anywhere around your home or subdivision you have to expect something to be built there some day. Second come with some suggestions on what the land would be better used as.

Lawyer Wants Competency Hearing Cancelled

The lawyer of a man accused of barricading himself in his Eagle Mountain home earlier this year said a competency evaluation is a waste of time and a method of prolonging proceedings.

Purple Heart For Eagle Mountain Guardsman

Sgt. 1st Class Gordon Ewell, of Eagle Mountain, served in the Army National Guard for 23 years, and was injured when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Ewell's duty was to find and destroy the bombs, and his vehicle was hit six different times.

Brigadier General Jeff Burton said the Army is evolving in the way the Purple Heart is awarded. Ewell has waited more than a year and a half for his medal because of the nature of his injuries. While the medal was previously given for visible wounds, those who are injured by some of the roadside bombs in Iraq often have brain damage that manifests itself over a longer period of time.

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Utah County Sheriffs To Return

The whole thought of Eagle Mountain getting it's own police department anytime soon. Yeah, it ain't happening.

The Utah County Sheriffs Department and Commission have come to an agreement on a new hourly rate to have sheriffs patrolling the streets of Eagle Mountain.

According to the Provo Daily Herald that amount will be $54 an hour. That's up 10 percent from last year.

Eagle Mountain Joins Utah Lake Commission

Don't expect Eagle Mountain to have any say on decisions made by the group. Eagle Mountain has been adopted as a non-voting member.

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Mayor Jackson And Others Lobby For Road Money

Eagle Mountain's main concern for roads is to extend Pony Express Parkway to Redwood Road in Saratoga Springs to provide an alternate route for residents traveling to the city, as well as to Fairfield and Cedar Fort, another option besides state Route 73 and 400 North in Saratoga Springs.

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