Those temporary walls are all that separates Kaysville from its neighbor to the east, Fruit Heights, in a couple of places. While Kaysville planners are looking at removing them, residents on both sides are hoping to keep them in place.

"We love the people, they're our neighbors in every sense of the word," says Olga Hoff, who lives on the Kaysville side of Laurelwood Drive. "But to open these roads would change the whole face of the community. It would ruin it."

The plan would make two new thoroughfares, running from Kaysville's Main Street to U.S. Highway 89 in Fruit Heights.

The two neighborhoods that are troubled by the plan each have their own take on the controversy.

Laurelwood, which turns into 400 South on the Fruit Heights side, is a newer area that is becoming more and more populated. Center Street, however, is one of the oldest parts of Kaysville. Its adjoining neighbor in Fruit Heights, Country Road, was named because residents thought they'd be living on, well, a country road.

"We bought our house because we liked this dead end," says Fruit Heights resident Cheryl Murdock, whose home is just east of the boundary on Country Road. "We have small children and want to keep them safe."

The residents got a small reprieve Wednesday. The Kaysville City Council voted 4-1 to reject Fruit Heights' proposal to remove "all barriers on streets" between the two cities.

The decision came after a 90-minute public hearing, in which an overwhelming number of participants from both communities argued in favor of keeping the road closed. A group, calling itself the Kaysville/Fruit Heights Coalition, threatened a lawsuit if a Kaysville City Council member, Christopher Snell, whose brother-in-law is the Fruit Heights city engineer who recommended the plan, didn't recuse himself from the vote.

Snell did not bow out of the process and he was the only one who voted to open the roads.

"I believe these streets were meant to eventually open," he said. "They were 'stubbed' with the intent they would be through roads someday. If not, they would have been turned into cul-de-sacs."

Kaysville Councilman Casey Hill defended Snell's right to participate in the vote. But he urged Fruit Heights officials to go back and do some more homework.

"The benefits to Kaysville for doing this are unclear," Hill said. "And until we see some reason for it, I don't see why Kaysville should pay to study the issue."

Fruit Heights officials argued a number of points in favor of removing the barriers - faster response times for emergency vehicles, the barriers are a bit of an eyesore - but at least one Fruit Heights councilman saw Kaysville's refusal as part of a simmering hostility between the two towns.

"I saw shades of the feud between [Salt Lake City Mayor] Rocky Anderson and Davis County," said Fruit Heights Councilman Steve Brough, referring to the capital city mayor's opposition to Legacy Highway.

"They seemed to be saying, 'We don't want people from Fruit Heights coming to our town.' "

lorib@sltrib.com