Re "Group: Farms can be saved from sprawl" (Tribune, Feb. 8):

Talk about saving Utah’s remaining agricultural lands — along the Wasatch Front, at least — is a classic case of closing the barn door after the horses have left. The development and real estate interests have essentially won the battle.

	Join the Discussion
	Post a Comment

The original rural beauty of Salt Lake Valley is gone, and it didn’t have to be. In 1965, the Salt Lake Valley communities commissioned a master plan for the next 20 years, a copy of which I still have. Included in the plan was the preservation of much of the agricultural land in the southern and western parts of the valley, while still allowing reasonable growth for communities in that area.

Unfortunately, the master plan recommendations were quickly put on the shelf and never made a part of county or community statutes.

Today there are few farms and little agricultural land remaining in the valley. The remaining farmland continues to be sold and turned into cookie-cutter subdivisions and strip malls. In another decade, Salt Lake Valley will no doubt be covered with wall-to-wall suburbs.

It’s far too late for anything more than a few token pieces of agricultural land to be saved.

Gerreld L. Pulsipher

Holladay