Last night, Kennecott held an open house to unveil its plans for the vacant area between the North end of Topcrest Drive and Daybreak View Parkway. The area, which is approximately 1.5 acres, will be home to not one but TWO new condo buildings. Each will be FOUR STORIES tall (just over 45 feet) and have 36 units. My house is the tallest on Topcrest Drive and will be more than 20 feet shorter than these buildings!

The front of the building will face Daybreak View Parkway. However, the only access to the parking lot will be via the alley behind Topcrest Drive. The current plan is to widen the alley so that it can accommodate two-way traffic (basically making it into a street) going into and out of the condo development. The buildings will have an underground parking lot with ~72 spaces and a surface lot between the buildings and the alley. There are no plans to add any additional buffer between the alley/street and the existing homes’ backyards, although there will be a fence between the alley and the condo parking lot.

Needless to say, I can hardly wait to have a four-story building looming directly over my backyard and having what is now a relatively quiet alley turned into a major thoroughfare for 72 new condo units. As I lay awake last night, I was trying to think of any other four-story buildings in South Jordan. Unless you count the LDS temples, none come to mind and I certainly can't think of any that are within 50 feet of a single-family home's backyard. I can only imagine how many of these units they are planning on the South end of Topcrest. But, as the Kennecott representatives kept telling me over and over and over: “we could have made things much worse; you should be really happy.” Oddly, I’m not feeling particularly grateful this morning.

Funny thing is, they've been presenting this plan to many others outside of daybreak for quite some time. I first saw this about a year ago(along with the apartment plan) at a ULI (Urban Land Institute) presentation. The buildings are all supposed to have rooftop pools and their own miniture community centers. Cool idea but it is a dissappointment that it wasn't presented to residents sooner. I truly feel for those that bought close to the lake and will now be facing these buildings. I can't imagine how the alleyway is going to work... yikes!
Once again though, this fits into their plans with LEED-ND that will certify our community as environmental friendly which sadly can't be accomplished without increasing the density (one of the requirements, in particular since the award is meant for urban communities, not suburban!). Still can't believe they told you it could've been worse! How is that supposed to make you feel better???

Flying Ace,

Sorry to hear of your predicament. Buying a home next to empty space can always be a gamble. When we bought into Daybreak we understood the differences in this community and its future plans from the cookie-cutter developments surrounding it. High density housing has always been in the plans. So hearing of the condos does not surprise me although I would have hoped they could have put a greenspace buffer between them and the existing single family homes.

Don't get me wrong - I understand and have been a proponent of the mixed use concept. It's one of the things that attracted me to Daybreak. I just think that it's the kind of thing that needs to be managed very carefully in order to be successful. Kennecott's attitude that "we can do what we want and you should just be grateful that it's not 10 stories tall and directly on your property line" does not reassure me they have put much thought or care into what they are doing.

I have no objection to high-density housing being part of Daybreak. What I question is the wisdom of putting a row of very large condo buildings within a few feet of single family homes, especially when they will share the same narrow alley and have zero transitional space between them. If Daybreak is going to be an inconsistent hodge-podge of whatever Kennecott could sell at a particular point in time (which I was told is one of the driving factors behind this particular building design and layout), then I question it's long-term viability.

I'm convinced that condos, apartments, lofts, and single-family homes all have their place in Daybreak and can be part of a harmonious community. What I question is whether Kennecott knows how to integrate these different elements in ways that make sense and that enhance, not detract, from the value and livability of Daybreak.

Yeah, right on, well put. Their long term Westbench plan has certainly turned into a short term, react-to-the-current-market-today plan. And granted, all developers are in dire economic straits right now but I wonder how the results of current way of doing business are going to look 20 or 30 years from now.

Flying Ace,

I am extremely interested in your story. I do believe that for Daybreak to be successful Kennecott Land will need to integrate this type of housing in a less abrasive manner. I think your post above is right on. Do you have any other details about this project? Did they give you any pictures/plans?