Draper takes tough stance on encroachment

DRAPER - City to landowners: Get off our property.
    A city analysis last year showed 150 Draper property owners had built structures or planted trees on adjacent city-owned open space. And, six months later, the city is telling those offenders to knock it down and knock it off.
    If the landowners refuse, they could be hit with a big bill.
    But, the city's proposed lean budget might not have enough cash in it to uproot offenders' structures and fences.
    That's the worry of Councilman Troy Walker. His colleague, Stephanie Davis, said the city shouldn't send the message that offenders are OK just because the city doesn't have the money to deal with it.
    "They need to know it's coming out," she said.
    The City Council unanimously approved the ordinance earlier this week, but some council members worried they might harm homeowners who unknowingly bought into the problem and did not cause it.
    The council reserved the right to issue hardship permits. That would allow landowners to keep some structures on city property in cases where it is not feasible to remove them, such as swimming pools that only poke into open space.
    In those cases, the city could lease, sell or trade the public property.
    But Councilman Bill Colbert, who was harsher on offenders than most, said someone reasoning that his or her child might cry if the city moves a trampoline would not earn a hardship permit.
    Colbert pointed out that some encroachers knowingly extended onto city property and said that fines need to be punitive rather than fair-market values.
    "I don't want someone to benefit from encroachment. I want people to pay more for their encroachment than if they legally owned the property," Colbert said. "Once open space is gone - it's gone."
    Said Walker: "At least the law is on the books, and everybody knows. New encroachments won't occur, and we can deal with what's there in a reasonable manner."
    sgehrke@sltrib.com
   
   
    Crossing property lines
   
    Draper's new encroachment ordinance prohibits privately owned structures and equipment on city recreation facilities, such as trails or open space. It also makes it unlawful to disturb equipment and landscaping on city property.
    The law allows encroaching landscaping if it blends with the natural setting or helps control erosion.
    Private owners have one month to remove fences - at their own expense - from city property. If the city has to remove them, it could assess costs against the property, plus a $1,000 administrative fine.
    If structures are involved, the property owner might have to remove them. The City Council can issue hardship permits. And, the council can adjust the property lines through a lease, a sale or a property trade.