A plan to turn private land on Salt Lake City’s east bench into dedicated trails and open space near H-Rock — plus a handful of single family home plots — is moving forward after it hit a snag just over a year ago.
The Salt Lake City Planning Commission voted to approve a planned development and preliminary subdivision Wednesday for a plan that would pave the way for a large amount of privately held land to be bought by Salt Lake City Public Lands in the near future.
The plan allows for the preservation of roughly 32 acres for trails and open space while creating five single-family home lots on around six acres of land, with lot sizes ranging from .67 to 1.6 acres each.
Buying the land would allow Salt Lake City to preserve a section of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, and the terms of the agreement would also allow the city to buy a section of land along a would-be private road for potentially building a trailhead and parking lot.
Adam Turville, the applicant for the project, told the commission that his family has owned the land since the 1990s. He said the deal is a long time coming, and he believes it’s a good compromise that will serve the public well.
“We’ve signed a term sheet,” Turville told the commission. “We’re really close to finalizing a contract, and that would be for $1.75 million — $1.3 million of that would come from a grant from the state, which I’ve coordinated with Salt Lake’s public lands on getting that grant.”
Eric Daems, a senior planner for Salt Lake City, presented to the commission Wednesday, said the planned development proposal is all-encompassing, meaning the housing plots cannot be developed without the open space. He added, “They couldn’t start building residential or doing anything if this isn’t also public open space.”
Commissioner Aimee Burrows summed up the planned development like this: “Nothing’s going to happen until it all happens.”
Planning commission members were largely in favor of the proposal, though they had a handful of questions regarding public access in the area to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and what the trail easement would actually look like at full build. Daems said that question would be decided at a later date by the city’s public lands department.
After discussion, the planning commission unanimously approved both the planned development and preliminary subdivision plans.
Details of the land deal have shifted over the years, with the proposal stalling in June 2024 before it was revised earlier this year. Last year, developers requested an exception to a rule that stated the maximum pitch for homes must not exceed 30%, as much of the home plot land would exceed that slope.
City planning staff recommended against approving that waiver, and the Salt Lake City Planning Commission agreed. The planning commission approved a development proposal for the area without the 30% slope exception — which left the overall proposal up in the air.
But the updated plans, which included the two additional home plots to the east and upslope, gave the project a fresh start, leading to Wednesday’s planning meeting. The updated plans also called for building a private road and a cul-de-sac that would be maintained by a homeowners association. Part of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail will run along the north side of the road before splitting off to the north.
The plan will mean areas of the trail will need to be adjusted as part of the construction process, but plans show one of the parcels that would be sold to Salt Lake City would eventually be built into a trailhead parking lot area.
With its approval, the applicant will need to complete the steps outlined by city staff to finalize the deal. Once the applicant submits a final plat application, which can be reviewed internally and won’t need a public hearing, the project can officially move forward with land sales.
It’s not clear when the land could be sold to Salt Lake City’s public lands department, though both Turville and Daems said Wednesday that the sale could be finalized soon.
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