Yeah, I agree that the city will make the lake even worse. The lake was supposed to be transferred to the city long ago, hence the post you found. For some reason, around the time of the fishing debacle, they decided to keep the lake for now. About the only good management decision KL has made.

I was also told by the Information Pavillion that the City would eventually take it over. I won't say I'm against the City taking over, depending on what maintenance, security, etc. is put in place. I think a major problem is that the infrastructure around the lake isn't built for large crowds. I absolutely HATE driving around the lake due to all of the traffic. I wouldn't be opposed to having a higher HOA fee for the lake to be private.

kwm03160 wrote:

QUOTE:
I wouldn't be opposed to having a higher HOA fee for the lake to be private.

Has anyone run the numbers on that?

At this point the city doesn't want the lake, its expenses, nor the headaches associated with it. Could change, not soon.

The liability/cost of insurance for the lake would bankrupt our HOA. Then we would have to consider cost of ongoing maintenance. Kennecott Land is handling the cost of that insurance for now, thank goodness.

Personally, I'm not interested in having $300+ monthly HOA fees to support a lake that would have to be fenced to keep it a Daybreak exclusive amenity.

I don't think it's possible to make the lake a private amenity without creating a bunch of other problems. To me, the core issue is not WHO uses the lake, but HOW it's used. Since I've lived in Daybreak, there have been two major lake-related debacles - both of which could have been prevented with a bit of planning and forethought.

The first happened after the lake was stocked with fish and someone decided that it would be a good idea of promote the lake as a fishing destination. Not surprisingly, the lake was totally overrun with people trying to get in on the action. Unfortunately, there was no plan in place to manage the beast that had been created, so there were problems with traffic, parking, sanitation, etc. Kennecott eventually took back control from the Division of Wildlife (who had been given oversight of the fishing). Slowly, and as the lake has been fished out, the number of people coming to Daybreak as fishing destination has dropped to almost zero. Are people still coming from outside Daybreak to fish? Of course. Are they all leaving with four fish each every single day? Nope. The incentive (all the free fish you can handle) has been removed, and the problem has been eliminated.

The second major debacle has resulted from Kennecott's decision to open the lake to swimming - again without a plan for managing the situation. Yes, I know, they claim that it's technically only open to wading, but it's an irrelevant distinction unless you can articulate and enforce the difference. Until this year, no one had been allowed in the water except in a boat, which helped control both the number of people and the lake's desirability as a "destination." The huge crowds only arrived after the lake was opened for swimming and promoted to the entire valley as a destination for fun in the sun. Along with the crowds came the same traffic, parking, and sanitation problems as during the fishing debacle because, once again, Kennecott was completely unprepared to manage the monster they created.

I know that it's probably not a popular position, but I think that the answer to the current problems at the lake might include going back to the no swimming/wading policy. While this would limit the ways in which Daybreak residents can use the lake, it would also reduce the attractiveness of the lake as a destination for family reunions, youth conferences, etc. It's simply not practical to have a "residents can swim, non-residents cannot" policy for the lake without building a fence around the whole thing or hiring the national guard to do enforcement! I do think it's noteworthy that the crowds vanished as soon as the lake was closed to swimming. All of the great parks are still here. The walking trails are open. The picnic tables and open space and benches are all here. What's changed is there's no swimming, and almost like magic, there are no more crowds.

So today we are riding past the beach on Oquirrh Lake road, marveling at the setting that includes a few residents sitting in the park, watching their children play in the park while sitting with their dogs on leash.

Then I look down at the posted/closed and fenced beach and see a young couple with 6 children under the age of 5 digging in the sand and up to their necks in water.

I watched one toddler boy stuff a bunch of sand in his mouth. Husband and I look at each other and agree, it's time to talk to the folks. We walk down to the fence with the obvious "BEACH CLOSED" sign and ask if the people know whay the beach is closed. Of course they say no. We told them about the issue, they said thanks and continued to let their toddlers dig and eat the sand. We looked for security, but apparently, they don't work on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Who is dumb enough to put their children in harms way after they know about the threat?