Draper recently conducted a study that shows about 150 landowners have extended their properties onto city-owned open space. And now, officials in this city of 36,000-plus that straddles the Salt Lake and Utah county lines are telling residents to back off.

"It's worse than we ever expected," said Councilman Bill Colbert, who in June said he wanted an irrevocable conservation easement to protect the open space.

"We've got some major problems we're going to have to address - problems we can't let go."

When one of the most egregious violations came up at Tuesday's council meeting - involving a swimming pool, tennis court and other permanent recreation structures - Colbert and colleague Paul Edwards said, sarcastically, they were excited to learn the city had a pool. Colbert joked he wouldn't mind putting up a sign that read, "Public pool, swim at your own risk."

On Wednesday, Hilbig said employees are checking to see if that massive violation might have been caused by a glitch in the city's system. The potential violators' names were not cited during the meeting.

Meanwhile, the backyards of nearly 25 homes near Highland Drive - between Old Saddle Road and Hawberry Road - have migrated onto Spring Hollow Trail. White picket fences now choke the mile-long corridor that is part of the city's Bonneville Shoreline trail system on South Mountain.

So what the city will do to fix these problems and a laundry list of other problems? That remains unclear.

In line with its own city code, Draper could choose to evict residents from the affected areas and charge them with a class B misdemeanor.

But for now, the city is simply drafting letters to notify property owners of the problems - some of which could cost thousands of dollars to fix, said Greg Hilbig, the city's trails and open-space specialist.

Officials, at the Tuesday meeting, disagreed on how harsh they should be with violators and how urgent the problem is.

Councilman Pete Larkin said it's not something the city needs to solve right away, but Colbert retorted that people are benefitting from the land and not paying taxes on it.

"Some of these people have deliberately stolen, or tried to steal, city property," Colbert declared. "I don't think some of these cases are unintentional."

But, he added, home buyers can fall victim of the encroachment, too. Some already may have purchased homes under the guise that they owned bigger yards, when part of that is actually city property.

Mayor Darrell Smith said the city has had a problem with encroachment for a long time, but he warned that it can't send police out to take people to jail right off the bat, especially where people have beautified the open space with landscaping.

"We have to take action, but we don't have to declare war when war isn't necessary," he told his colleagues.

But Edwards said those who have pushed onto city property need to give that land back. He wants violators to restore the city's open space to its original condition - even if that's sagebrush and weeds.

"People can't just plant on city open space," Edwards said. "That's like buying a house next to someone, saying you don't like their landscaping, then ripping that out and putting in something you like."

Not everyone wants such tight restrictions.

Councilman Jeff Stenquist doesn't want to revert back to sagebrush if people have beautified the look.

But Colbert countered that beauty is in eye of the beholder, and sagebrush is part of the natural environment that once blanketed the area.

Stenquist acknowledged he has learned a lot from the report.

"I'm glad we at least understand the extent of the problem," he said. "I hope we proceed judiciously and diplomatically."

sgehrke@sltrib.com