That "recommendation" for three proposed office buildings on land just east of Wasatch Boulevard - plus numerous other comments scrawled over the documents - were penned during a City Hall open house Thursday.
"They're not in favor of it," City Councilman Bruce Jones said of protesting residents who live above the proposed Wasatch Office Project.
Thirteen-year resident Rebecca Good says that's because, "We're not commercial in this area - it's all residential."
"This affects all the Wasatch area because residents commute. If they start encroaching on Wasatch Boulevard, we'll have commercial development all the way up to Alta," she said, referring to the ski resort high in Little Cottonwood Canyon to the east.
Traffic and geologic conditions topped residents' list of concerns, with diminished property values, noise and light pollution ranking close behind.
"It's only a matter of time before someone gets hit," said resident David Hancock. "With the single ingress and egress onto Wasatch Boulevard, people will get killed there."
In an interview Friday, Blaine Walker, president of Utah Property Development, said the land is better suited for office space than residential because of safety issues.
The Utah Department of Transportation approved the project after Walker's company submitted extensive traffic studies.
"We're widening Wasatch and putting in acceleration and deceleration lanes," Walker said. "We originally had two cuts going onto Wasatch - UDOT limited us to one."
Walker's 5-acre parcel is difficult, acknowledged Glenn Symes, associate planner for Cottonwood Heights.
"The biggest issues are the fault lines," Symes said. Also, close to half of the land is not suitable for building due to steep slope.
"It took 14 months of geologic review because of the slope and fault lines," Symes said.
Property owner Janis White worries the development could weaken the hillside, causing the upscale homes above to slide down.
"It will diminish our home values. We worked our whole lives for these homes," White said.
Several residents directed anger at Salt Lake County for "sneaking" the zone change through just before the city incorporated. They claimed they received no notice of the meeting where County Council members decided the rezone.
In March 2004, the County Council approved an ordinance - applicable only to this property - that allows, by conditional use, office, business or professional buildings no higher than 35 feet. Total building size could not exceed 50,000 square feet.
"The County Council tailored the ordinance to fit this development," said Michael Black, planning director for Cottonwood Heights.
Walker said he recalls shelling out hundreds of dollars to pay postage for various meeting notices sent out to adjacent homeowners.
County Councilman Randy Horiuchi was one of eight members who voted in favor of the ordinance.
"I voted against one plan [submitted by the land's previous owner] to put homes on the property because the county geologist had concerns," Horiuchi said. "[Utah Property Development] brought in a better plan that seemed to address those issues."
Horiuchi said he couldn't speak specifically to the noticing issue. As he remembers, there was little interest in the zone change.
"We weren't lobbied heavily from either side," he recalled.
Now, area homeowners are determined to make their voices heard, although they fear it could be too late.
"We're circulating a petition to collect signatures opposing the office project," said Dan Wait. He and his wife, Jan, purchased their hillside home directly above Walker's parcel just 15 months ago.
"If the offices had been there when we bought our home, we wouldn't have," Jan Wait said.
cmckitrick@sltrib.com
Wasatch Office Project
* 7755 S. Wasatch Blvd.
* 3 two-story office buildings
* 42,000 square feet total
* 210 parking stalls, some underground
* valued at $7 million to $8 million
Source: Utah Property Development
