Unfinished and incensed

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Draper doesn't want to turn into a graveyard of unfinished homes.

In effort to brace itself for fallout from a slumping housing market, the city is targeting builders who walk away from unfinished projects, leaving behind skeletons of would-have-been homes.

"This does create a safety concern and an eyesore," says City Councilwoman Stephanie Davis, adding that the city could at least require landowners to fence off their unfinished-home sites.

Several Draper residents, who already live next to long-abandoned shells, would welcome such a change.

Take, for example, the Satre's, who are dazzled by the sweeping view of the Salt Lake Valley from their east-bench home's back windows.

But a glance out the front door tells a different story.

A massive dirt mound and abandoned concrete foundation - peppered with unsightly graffiti and rusty concrete reinforcing rods have stood abandoned for three years atop a trio of would-be home lots in a neighborhood where many houses have sold for more than $1 million.

Gerri Satre says an appraiser told the couple their home would be worth another $100,000 if there wasn't such an ugly presence across the street. And, more importantly she said, kids often run through the littered and hazardous site, using it as a shortcut to the neighborhood's nearby clubhouse and swimming pool.

Bill Satre says he and his wife still enjoy life in the Hickory Ridge subdivision. But, he says, the city should hold developers and homebuilders more accountable.

He suggests the city even consider ripping out projects and flattening the land if they are not completed by a promised deadline. Then, he said, the city could put a lien against the offending property to recover costs.

And, he adds: Draper should prevent offending builders from "hitting another nail" elsewhere in the city until they follow through on stagnant projects.

"All we're asking for are some rules," Satre says. "Nobody is patrolling the builders."

Jared Belnap, a fellow Hickory Ridge resident and former homeowners-association president, wonders whether any city action would help his subdivision force builders' hands. The HOA has successfully coerced a handful of builders to follow through with projects, but it has had trouble tracking down owners of some sites.

"It would be fantastic if [the city] could force builders to build on a lot, to keep it clean, keep trash off and build in a certain amount of time," Belnap says.

Former HOA executive committee member Josh Harrison, who stressed he is for as little government as possible, also likes the concept of an abandonment ordinance. Bothered by "the Wild West atmosphere here," he agrees there needs to be more oversight.

Adds his wife, Tracey Harrison: "They [city officials] need to do something. You had Orem arrest an elderly lady for not watering her lawn. And then you have Draper with abandoned houses - and they've done nothing."

Even one of Hickory Ridge's developers, Jeff Walker, says he sees benefits in the proposed ordinance. He stresses that he does not own any properties in question, but notes that some of those lots encountered geologic issues. On the one across from the Satres, he says the city required builders to install a pricey, geologically sound "megafoundation," but the buyers have since run low on cash. He says leaving the unfinished structure behind would allow a future builder to expand on what's been done, rather than destroy it and start from scratch.

While Walker likes the ordinance idea, he wonders whether it could be applied retroactively to projects already started. And he says it could be redundant, since homeowners associations already address such issues with CC&Rs (covenants, conditions and restrictions).

"I can see, where Draper is growing, why the city would want to have some control."

Councilman Jeff Stenquist voices similar concerns, saying he and his colleagues would have to look at what they can legally do and balance property rights against public-safety risks.

Fellow Councilman Bill Colbert says an ordinance is important because future abandonment issues would likely be more prevalent in the more pricey projects, like those found in Hickory Ridge.

"We've had a couple homes of concern, and we want to address the issue before it gets worse."

sgehrke@sltrib.com