Draper • Students at the future Corner Canyon High School most likely will have an LDS seminary nearby. But they could have to walk across the street instead of across campus.
On Wednesday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told residents of the Pheasant Brook Estates subdivision in Draper its plans to replace a two-story house with a seminary building. The church needs the approval of the homeowners association to remove the property, which the church is under contract to buy, from the subdivision, which requires that lots be kept residential.
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This is the faith’s Plan B after an initial plan to buy a one-acre parcel on the high school campus fell apart.
Most residents at the open house appeared to support the plan, which would place a one-story seminary building adjacent to an existing LDS meetinghouse near 13100 South and 700 East and kitty corner from the school.
"Nobody wants anything other than a house in their neighborhood. [But] having access to a seminary building is an absolute must," said David Shurtliff, president of the homeowners association. His son and granddaughter both will be sophomores and LDS seminary students when Corner Canyon High opens in fall 2013.
"I’m happy with this as a solution," he said, noting final approval will require a vote by the subdivision’s 197 homeowners.
In August, Canyons School District announced it would not sell land at its high school site that had been designated for a "seminary" on its site plan after both the LDS Church and Summum, a Salt Lake City-based religion, expressed interest in the land for religious-based instruction during time students are released from school by their parents. Brian Barnard, Summum’s attorney, said at the time that the Constitution prohibits a government entity like Canyons from favoring one religion over another.
On Wednesday, Barnard said excluding the LDS Church from the subdivision’s rules will be "appreciated by Summum," because the religious group also could have an opportunity to buy a house and provide a seminary in the "formerly residential neighborhood" across from the high school.
Su Menu, president of Summum, said her church, which is influenced by Egyptology and embraces all religions, has no immediate plans to build a seminary near Corner Canyon High.
"At this point," she said, "we are not looking at it."
Randy Hulbert, the LDS Church’s seminary and real estate director, said the Corner Canyon seminary will be 8,900 square feet with six classrooms and offices for eight staffers, but will be slightly smaller than what was planned on the original site next to the high school.
"Obviously, that would have been our first choice," he said, noting the campus site avoided the safety risk of students needing to cross a street. He expects about 1,200 to 1,300 Corner Canyon students to enroll in seminary. The school has a capacity of 1,800 and is projected to open with about 1,500 students.
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