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DRAPER - Planting a tree on someone else's property is one thing. Installing a swimming pool is an entirely different brand of encroachment.

Some City Council members want to punish only the most egregious violators among a slew of 150 landowners who have pushed beyond their property lines to claim parts of Draper's public open space as their own.

Now, rather than simply sending the city staff out to address each encroachment issue, the council is hashing out an ordinance.

The ordinance likely would make it illegal to build fences or structures, such as gazebos or sport courts, on city property. But it still is unclear whether landscaping would be prohibited. Some council members say that could prevent hillside erosion.

At a meeting Tuesday, the council disagreed on whether - and how firmly - to deal with violators.

Councilman Jeff Stenquist favors leniency, because some residents didn't know they were expanding onto city property and some did so only after surveying errors.

" want to say, 'That's water under the bridge.' I don't care about pointing fingers and saying, 'Who gave you permission?' " Stenquist said.

Instead of telling people to tear out swimming pools and tennis courts, he wants the policy to say, "You built a facility on public property, now it becomes a public facility."

But Councilwoman Stephanie Davis said there should be consequences.

"I don't want those people thinking it's their property," Davis said, adding that future buyers could assume the property they are buying is bigger than it actually is. "Some people knew [what they were doing]."

Joan Little, president of the South Mountain Homeowner's Association, had opposed the council's previous harsh rhetoric against encroachers. She wanted it to consider the degree and effects of the encroachment.

"The council has brought a lot of compassion into their thinking which they didn't have to begin with," Little said on Wednesday. "They've realized the majority of the homeowners never encroached knowingly."

This makes her "deliriously happy," she said.

Over the line

Draper is addressing about 150 cases of private property encroaching on city open space and assigned each instance a number to show the varying degrees:

* 0-No encroachment: 606

* 1-Grass or minor landscaping: 58

* 2-Minor erosion: 13

* 3-Major landscaping: 18

Categories 3 and 5 mixed: 2

* 4-Major erosion: 7

Categories 4 and 6 mixed: 2

* 5-Minor structure: 5

* 6-Major structure: 49