City Council members in Saratoga Springs prepared for a new addition to their boundaries on Tuesday, an annexation of more than 700 acres with a potential of more than 4,300 residential, business and other units.
The Teguayo Project is on the south side of the Saratoga Springs city boundaries in unincorporated Utah County.
"The entire property is currently within Utah County and will be annexed into the city," said Jim McNulty, Saratoga Springs planning director. "However, this property is identified within the city's current annexation boundary area."
The project has been in the planning and discussion stages for several years now. Dyno Nobel operates a research and development plant in the area, but Dyno Nobel representative Robert Bingham said they originally put the plant out there in the 1960s because there was nothing but cattle and sheep on that side of Utah Lake.
As new housing and businesses continue to move closer and closer, he said the company's thought is that it makes more sense to move the plant to a new remote location and then start setting up the property for resale.
"Frankly, I think there is a better use for our land, than our current use," Bingham said. "We contemplated doing this development, removing ourselves from this site, and finding a new location to do the kind of work that we do."
Getting the site ready for development is no small undertaking either. Saratoga Springs planning staff have actually worked with Teguayo and others on several options. According to McNulty, the group came to the conclusion last year that a new zoning code -- a Planned Community Zone -- would make sense for developments of this magnitude.
Modeled after what South Jordan has done with the Daybreak Development, this new zoning code was recently passed for creating a long range master plan for a community rather than just a subdivision.
Things like infrastructure, utilities, residential versus commercial property use, density, roads, and even schools and other non-commercial facilities such as church buildings are planned out in advance, giving the city time to plan for infrastructure development and giving the developer the opportunity to address a large-scale project as a whole rather than by pieces.
Saratoga's next step, for instance, is the annexation of 731.59 acres to the city. Ken Leetham, Saratoga Springs city manager, estimated that this acquisition would increase the city's boundaries by about five percent.
The city will hold a public meeting on March 23 at 7 p.m. at the city offices to take citizen input on the proposal. Since the land is part of the Saratoga Springs annexation boundary area, this should be a fairly straight-forward process.
Next, the city has to plan infrastructure such as utilities and roads. Water is always an issue in the city, but another issue is sewer.
"This property is not served today by a sewer service that will work," said Leetham, Saratoga Springs city manager.
He said several different options are being discussed, including the creation of a new waste water treatment facility in the area that could reclaim the water to be used as secondary water for the city.
"It could just provide a great secondary water resource for this area," he said.
The City Council has been receptive to the project and the efforts involved from all parties.
"I'd like to commend city staff, Planning Commission, the City Council, Dyno Nobel and Teguayo for putting this together and working so well," said Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love. "I think that a project this big requires a tremendous amount of work, and it is really quite encouraging to see the entities involved in this to work as partners."
Council members discussed possibly having another work session before the March 23 meeting to hammer out some of the details still under discussion, but no exact date was set.
