State lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that allows the Utah Transit Authority and a developer to build a rail-oriented neighborhood in Draper on the site of a 3,000-year-old Indian village that archaeologists would rather preserve.
The Senate's passage of HB179 clears the way so the Department of Natural Resources can negotiate a land swap with Whitewater VII Holdings. If they work out a deal, Whitewater then would give UTA 10 acres for a station on its planned FrontRunner line between Provo and Salt Lake City.
Wednesday's 21-8 vote came after UTA assurances of protection for the archaic village, which shows signs of farming from 500 years earlier than was previously documented in the region.
"The 10 acres that UTA would develop as a station would be predominantly, if not entirely, off of the known archaeological resource," agency spokeswoman Carrie Bohnsack-Ware said. Any encroachment on artifacts would trigger mitigation, she said, which "likely would involve having a qualified archaeologist documenting and moving them."
Much more of the property, about 100 acres in all, would undergo private development.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. supports the bill, spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley said. She noted that it permits a swap but doesn't require it. UTA still may consider other sites in Draper and Bluffdale for the station.
Moving the artifacts was what the Utah Professional Archaeological Council feared when it wrote to DNR Executive Director Mike Styler opposing the swap last month, and during testimony against the bill last week. The council prefers in-ground preservation so future generations with better technology may learn more about the ancient inhabitants.
A spokesman for the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute also opposed construction on the site. "It contains evidence of some of my American-Indian ancestors and is considered a very scared place," tribal Chairman Rupert Steele wrote.
Senate Democrats objected to the plan, asserting that it is a taxpayer-backed benefit to a politically connected developer who would build a commercial and residential village around UTA's commuter-rail stop.
Developer Terry Diehl, who also is a UTA board member, represents the landowner, Whitewater VII Holdings.
"They are the ones that will receive significant economic benefit," said Sen. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights. "Because they'll gain that at a loss to the taxpayers, I vote no."
Because other sites are available, said Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, the reason for the swap appears to be to help the developer.
"The swap is actually not necessary," he said, "and in some respects might be a sweetheart deal for a particular landowner or developer."
Bristling at the suggestion that HB179 is special-interest legislation, Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said the taxpayers are the special interest. Completing the swap puts the station closer to Bangerter Highway, which UTA says will increase FrontRunner ridership.
On second thought: We support it.
That's the recent turnabout of Salt Lake County Council members, who decided this week to support legislation that would allow the state to swap artifact-laden lands in Draper to make way for a future FrontRunner station.
The endorsement comes a week after the council opposed the measure, fearing that it would disrupt a significant archeological find with ruins dating back 3,000 years.
Why the switch? One reason: A council majority now believes the bill would offer sufficient protection to American-Indian remains now under private ownership. Before a commuter-rail station ever is built, Councilman Joe Hatch argued, those ruins would be cataloged and plans laid to minimize development's impact on them.
The council voted to back the bill 5-2 -- with Jim Bradley and David Wilde opposing it and Jenny Wilson and Jani Iwamoto absent.
"It may provide some superficial protections," Bradley said, "but not the type of protections we need to preserve the property."
Jeremiah Stettler
