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Utahns want their Wasatch canyons clean and pristine decades from now, planners say, but they also want some cosmopolitan upgrades for the Salt Lake Valley's backyard playgrounds.
A mountain train up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta and Snowbird ski resorts would be nice, most Wasatch Front residents apparently believe, as would a TRAX extension reaching year-round canyon buses at a transit center near the mouth of Big Cottonwood. Public land purchases or easements could protect most of the remaining private lands while still allowing hundreds of condos or cabins clustered around existing roads and sewers. Trails and rock-climbing areas might get better access to public restrooms.
Those ideas are among 21 recommended in "Wasatch Canyons Tomorrow," a conservation plan released Monday by Envision Utah, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City, the Governor's Office, Utah Transit Authority, Utah Department of Transportation, Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and the town of Alta.
The report follows three rounds of meetings and online surveys that attracted 16,000 participants. Each recommendation needed 60 percent support to make the publication.
Nothing in the plan is binding, although participating agencies praised it as a guide for their efforts to maintain beautiful recreation areas and clean drinking water even as the population in the neighboring valley is projected to swell from about 1.1 million today to nearly 1.7 million in 30 years.
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said the vision will help keep the canyons worth visiting and keep the Wasatch Front an attractive place to live.
"It will ensure," he said, "that we have a great quality of life for generations to come."
The plan covers seven canyons: City Creek, Red Butte, Emigration, Parleys, Mill Creek, Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood. Some of the ideas such as trains and land purchases are potentially expensive but may be realistic during the next 20 years, said Envision Utah Executive Director Alan Matheson.
These canyons are critical recreation grounds, said Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest acting supervisor Cheryl Probert. The forest, situated as it is on the doorstep of a major metropolitan area, is the nation's third-most visited, she said. Most visitors spend part of their time in the canyons, whether skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking, picnicking, walking dogs or something else.
"These are people," Probert said, "headed into the watershed to renew mind, body and spirit."
The canyons also help fuel Utah's economy, said Utah Quality Growth Commission Executive Director John Bennett, and not just by drawing skiers. The beauty, recreation and water that they supply are important factors for businesses thinking of relocating.
"Quality growth," Bennett said, "really does include the notion of protecting what is most important to us."
Likewise, trains to and even into one of the canyons could improve business, Matheson said. Utah competes with Colorado for skiers who want the best vacation experience, he said, and rail access from the airport to the resorts not only improves skier convenience but also adds a "fun factor."
Here are some of the plan's recommended actions:
• Increase funding perhaps by legislation or by local bond elections, Matheson said to buy sensitive lands.
• Work with the Utah Water Quality Board to create a revolving-loan fund to upgrade existing septic systems.
• Extend TRAX light rail east from the existing Salt Lake City-Sandy line to a new transit hub at the mouth of the Cottonwoods, and offer year-round bus service into the canyons. UTA currently provides ski bus service in winter.
• Build a winter train up Little Cottonwood to deliver skiers to Alta and Snowbird along an old mining rail right of way across the stream from the existing road. Light rail likely couldn't handle the grade, Matheson said, but European mountain towns have used electric trains with climbing aids such as the cogs that keep a roller coaster from sliding backward.
• Consider parking passes for vehicles in Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood to help fund upgrades such as public restrooms and better trail heads and climbing accesses.
• Run express buses from Salt Lake City to Park City.
Most Utahns appear willing to help pay for these programs, Matheson said. Most participants who use the canyons, for instance, said they would support a parking fee to help with recreation upgrades.
Envision Utah also conducted a statewide poll and found general agreement with the priorities that participants identified.
Canyon dwellings
The Wasatch canyons have nearly 2,100 homes, cabins and condos. Existing zoning would allow about 500 more, but spread out on large lots requiring many new roads and septic systems.
A plurality of Envision Utah participants 38 percent favored a plan that would allow more than 700 units but cluster them in currently developed areas.
Only 9 percent supported the current zoning's call for dispersed, large-lot development.
• Most of the canyons' 125,000 combined acres are public land. About 25,000 acres are private, but only 10,000 are suitable for construction and about half of that already has been developed.
Ideas for each canyon
City Creek
This urban hiking, biking and dog-walking portal could benefit from a recommendation to relieve pressure by developing new recreation sites elsewhere around the Salt Lake Valley.
Red Butte
Largely restricted and used for watershed and vegetation research, this canyon behind the University of Utah would remain as is.
Emigration
With aging septic systems threatening water quality in this supplier to valley homes, a revolving loan fund could help upgrade sewage treatment.
Parleys
Despite its gateway to Park City's tourism engine, this canyon has no public bus service. UTA express buses could fill a big need.
Mill Creek
The Forest Service is studying the possibility of shuttle vans possibly with trailers for skis and dogs to ease a parking shortage in this narrow canyon popular for year-round backcountry recreation. Envision Utah participants largely backed an alternative-transportation approach and continuation of the alternating on- and off-leash dog days.
Big Cottonwood
New funds, through legislation, local bonds or other sources, could help buy sensitive lands, while establishing a system of development-right transfers could encourage private canyon landowners to build only at villages or even outside of the canyons.
Little Cottonwood
A winter train to Snowbird and Alta ski resorts could relieve heavy traffic congestion and reduce pollution runoff into the stream.
Source: Wasatch Canyons Tomorrow