EAGLE MOUNTAIN - Hoping to build 10,000 homes in Eagle Mountain, developers are wooing the city with big promises even as they lay out the expensive obligations the city would be taking on.

DAI, the developer hoping to convince the city to add more than 2,700 acres, said they would install an ATV trailhead, 39 miles of trails, 178 acres of open space and a rodeo facility to be built in time for the Pony Express Sesquicentennial next year. Those carrots were dangled in the second of a series of study sessions to consider the so-called Pole Canyon annexation, which includes 117 families living in the White Hills subdivision.

In exchange for annexation and eventual development approvals, developers promised elected officials "substantial amenities" on the land, "the largest of which is a public rodeo grounds that will hopefully one day be part of your Pony Express Days tradition," said Nathan Shipp of DAI. "I would like nothing more than to see the mayor ride barrels at your sesquicentennial next year."

City officials have said the annexation makes financial sense only if there is enough sales and property tax generated to pay the cost of providing services to the area.

Developers said commercial and industrial zones would bring 11,000 jobs to Eagle Mountain. When Councilman Eric Cieslak asked how confident developers are that they can convince companies to locate here, bringing those jobs with them, Shipp said there are now five companies seriously considering the site.

Eleven percent of the land, totaling 178 acres, will be set aside as open space and planned parks, Shipp said. Developers have included 39 miles of trails.

The first park will be a trailhead providing public ATV access to BLM land, developers said. They are working on the design of that park now, which will also include a soccer field. This park would be located next to the White Hills subdivision.

"We intend to build that as soon as possible," said Shipp. "And have enough of the rodeo grounds finished to have part of the Sesquicentennial celebration as well. That is less than a year away, so we need to stay focused." The rodeo grounds would become city property.

City manager John Hendrickson told council members they should make those promises part of the annexation agreement, meaning that permission for certain phases of development would hinge on first making good on the promises.

When asked about public services, Shipp said he would "prefer not to include the White Hills residents" in the annexation because failing infrastructure in the aging subdivision means big expenses in the near term. However, "we have looked at the situation that they are living in and feel from a responsible development standpoint that it would be unfair of us to ignore that."

This altruism also comes at the urging of the county, "who feel they need to be included," Shipp said.

If White Hills becomes a part of Eagle Mountain, the city would be obligated to provide the same standard of service in that area as it does for the rest of its residents, Hendrickson said.

"That is one of the concerns of the council and staff," Hendrickson said. "White Hills changes the whole dynamic. We become immediately responsible for water, sewer, etc. The devil is always in the details with these annexations."

"What will it cost us to get White Hills where it needs to be so that it is not the poor cousins?" asked Councilwoman Donna Burnham. "We don't want it to be the poor cousins, but at the same time we don't want to go in and say we have to change everything."

"We have not talked about the fact that they all have animal rights and some of their lots are as small as a quarter-acre," said Mayor Heather Jackson of White Hills. "We don't want to take away the rights they currently have, but their rights don't meet what we have. We have to look at a way of grandfathering in the uses they are already doing."

Developers said they would contribute to construction of a fire station in the area, the amount to be negotiated. They noted that they have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars providing research information to the city.

With Eagle Mountain already one of the largest geographic municipalities in Utah, the 2,700 acres of Pole Canyon are slated to one day boast nearly 10,000 homes, occupied by 30,000 people. Even without this land, Eagle Mountain estimates it will serve 200,000 residents when the city is fully built out.

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