Olympia Hills is coming, but South Jordan leaders say they're prepared
May 05, 2020 11:53AM ● By Susan Palmer
By Susan Palmer | [email protected]
With the Olympia Hills referendum campaign at an end, city officials are now facing the prospect of the controversial development coming to their border.
Salt Lake County officials approved the Olympia Hills development on March 3. It calls for 6,330 new single-family homes, townhomes and apartments, and 1.8 million square feet of office and retail space.
South Jordan City Manager Gary Whatcott said from their perspective, they’ve been dealing with west-side growth for “a number of years.”
“Back in 2004, we signed a master development agreement with Rio Tinto, and with that master development agreement, we knew the number of new housing developments,” he said. “In South Jordan, we have been planning for the expansion of the west side for years.”
SoJo leaders have planned on the roads linking Riverton and Herriman to SoJo being oversized and spent the last 10 years planning for the Mountain View Corridor. Recently, SoJo officials were involved in the expansion of the U-111 highway. South Jordan officials have also been working with the state leaders to implement the mass transit TRAX system.
“This has not been a shockwave because SoJo has been dealing with our own internal growth, which was slightly under 20,000 residential units in Daybreak,” Whatcott said. “This has been on our mind for a long time, and we have done a lot of planning in our roadway networks.”
The question of water availability was raised. South Jordan purchases water from the Jordan Valley Conservancy District. There has been a good amount of planning for the water availability that did contribute to the water infrastructure that supplies the southwest valley area If things stay normal, there is enough water to supply the increased density. Newer developments will pay a higher water rate than what the existing cities currently are paying, as SoJo water structures are already developed and in use.
Whatcott did express a need for more public transit in the southwest area. Currently, there is no bus system available in SoJo.
