Calling it ill-planned and harmful, the mayor of Saratoga Springs is speaking out against a proposed bridge over Utah Lake.

The location is wrong, it will destroy the city's view of the lake, the toll will cost too much, it will bring unwanted traffic congestion, and it does not compliment the regional transportation plan, said Saratoga Springs Mayor Tim Parker.

"I think the current proposal is largely based on bringing advantages to a specific developer," said Parker, noting that in meetings with the mayor, Leon Harward, who is proposing to build the bridge with private funds, has said he owns land for development around the bridge.

Planners with the Mountainland Association of Governments expect 1 million people to be living in Utah County by 2040, creating an enormous demand for east-west travel access. Saratoga Springs is one of the fastest growing cities in the state.

"It is being touted as a done deal," Parker said. "I've had people all week coming up to me with bright faces saying, it looks like you are going to get a bridge, because that is the tone of the message on the news and at the Legislature."

People are "falling all over themselves to say how glorious it is for private industry to take over our transportation responsibilities," Parker said. "We need to make sure we don't compromise the responsibility of proper planning, which has not taken place in this situation."

Last month, Leon Harward of Utah Crossing, the company proposing the project, said the federal government will not have oversight, and the company would need to secure a lease from the state for land at the bottom of Utah Lake to place pillars to support an initial two-lane toll bridge. A second bridge would be built later as traffic demands rose. The project -- priced in the hundreds of millions of dollars -- would privately funded.

Reed Price, who heads up the Utah Lake Commission, said that in two meetings in the coming week, the public will have the opportunity to hear the state's response to the bridge proposal. A public hearing on the proposal is likely to be scheduled in October.

Parker said he will speak out against the bridge during at least one of the meetings this week. The benefits of the bridge would have to outweigh any negative aspects before he could support it, he said, and one of the benefits would need to be providing Saratoga Springs with access to the Provo Airport, which would likely mean rerouting the bridge to Provo Bay.

Price said a handful of people and organizations expressed opposition to the bridge proposal when it was first floated about a month ago. Since that time, no further opposition has been voiced, but he expects that to change at the public hearing next month.

The Army Corps has indicated they will not claim jurisdiction over any bridge, Price said. The state is moving forward in their review of the proposal.

"The way the project is being designed right now, no federal agency would have jurisdiction," Price said. That means the state would be responsible for any environmental review, and that review is likely to be less rigorous than any review the feds would have required.

"It is kind of a unique circumstance" because of the private funding for the bridge, Price said.

The bridge would stretch from just north of Pelican Point on the lake's west side, to Vineyard, tying in with 800 North in Orem, on the east side of the lake, Price said.

The public has two opportunities this week at two morning meetings to hear details about the bridge proposal from both Harward and state officials. The first will be on Monday at 8:30 a.m. in Room 319 in the Historic Utah County Courthouse at 51 S. University Parkway in Provo. The second meeting will be held at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday in the Ballroom in the same building.

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