And it wasn't just the idea of putting these apartments in that are bothersome. It was the patronizing attitude of the Daybreak people who were at that meeting that evening that was especially irksome. Not only did they actually go so far as to say that we should feel lucky that it is what it is, when we brought up issues about safety with regards to the alley now having so much more traffic, they were really nasty in their defensiveness. I asked them who was going to be in charge of enforcing the no parking in the alley, as it's still owned by Daybreak and the city can't touch it, they almost laughed and said, incredibly naively, that no one will be parking in the alley, as if their proclamation was enough. When we said that this was going to increase the number of car trips through the alley from about 10 to about 150, they laughed again and said they thought 10 was way too underutilized. Come to find out that the city actually calculates the traffic as 4.5 to 6 trips per unit, which would mean we're going from about 10 trips a day to around 500 to 600. All within 2 feet of our backyard fence with no buffer whatsoever. When we told them that we'd now have no privacy in our backyards, they actually said to us, "Oh, you don't use your backyard," despite the $13,000 in landscaping and fence we've put in and the hot tub. Every stereotype of real estate developers is embodied by the group that were there that night, and it wasn't pretty.

DaybreakMan,

I was hoping that you would be interested in this topic. Unfortunately, I don't have copies of any of the materials, but I have seen the information that Kennecott shared at the open house on Thursday as well as the blueprints they submitted to the City of South Jordan last week. Here's what I understand from those plans:

The development is called South Station Lofts and will be built by Gold Medallion Homes. Initially, there will be two buildings. Both will have 36 units and be four stories (approximately 45 feet) above ground with a shared underground parking lot. alley. The second buildnig will be a mirror image of the first. There will be a shared surface parking lot behind the two buildings, which will bring the total parking capacity to around 108 spaces.

The building that will sit at the corner of Lake Run Rd. and Daybreak View Parkway will be an L-shape that wraps around the corner. It will be four stories in the area parallel to Daybreak View Parkway and will step down to three stories in the section that faces Lake Run. On the interior side of the three-story segment, the building will step down to two stories. The drawings show that portion of the building extending almost to the alley.

All of the traffic into and out of the buildings will be directed through the alley that currently serves the Northwest side of Topcrest Drive. Kennecott is planning to add four feet to the alley to permit it to carry two-way traffic. There will be no additional set-back, curbing, etc. for the alley even though it will be carrying 10x the traffic as it does currently. They are planning to install a fence between the alley and the condo parking lot. It wasn't clear from the drawings at the City whether there would be any landscaping on the alley side of that wall.

I'm sure there's a more technical term, but the buildings will be what I call "hotel style." In other words, there will be main entrances at the front and back of the building (as well as from the underground parking lot) that access the interior hallways used to reach the individual units. I believe there is at least one elevator planned in each building. The units themselves are quite small based on the drawings at the City. Most are around 600 SF and are one-bedroom units. I believe there are a few that are two-bedrooms and a few that are studios. The current plan is that Gold Medallion will be selling the units; no one was able to answer my question about owner occupancy covenants and ratios. The exterior buildings, while not ugly, are reminicent of a college dormitory. They are much more contemporary in appearance than the homes in the surrounding areas (similar to some of the newer developments in North Shore).

I'm sure that I've missed something. I would be happy to talk with you offline if that would be helpful.

I unfortunately couldn't attend the open house but you've just made my worst fears come true. I also live on Topcrest (not on the alley side though) and was very surprised to hear condos would go on that space. Because they've held the open house, I assume they can get away with what they're building ... but really, 4 stories high buildings should not be built next to residential homes, most of which are ramblers.

Do you know if the plans are available online for people to see?

you can see a map and get more detail on Daybreak Man's blog at:
http://daybreaktoday.blogspot.com/


scoop~

FlyingAce wrote:

QUOTE:
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"

The Kennecott attitude has prevailed since the first shovel stirred the Daybreak dirt. Residents are meaningless once the closing papers are signed.

Kennecott may have an attitude but part of the question as to project sensibility falls to the city of South Jordan. The city approved the increased density, building design and placement.

Actually, the map and drawings on the blog referenced above are a different develoment. The apartments, which are described on Daybreak Man's blog, are on the West side of Daybreak View Parkway. The condos/lofts being discussed in this thread will be located in the vacant lot between the East side of Daybreak View Parkway and Topcrest Drive.

I'm not aware of any online drawings or details about the new condo development. I saw the renderings at a Kennecott open house last week and saw the drawings submitted to the City when I met with one of the city planners on Friday. Greg at the City of South Jordan was actually very helpful and walked me through the blueprints he had received from Kennecott. I got a lot more information and a lot less attitude than from my discussions with Kennecott.

Although Kennecott presented the drawings and has submitted the plans to the City, the project has not been fully approved. It must be reviewed and approved by the City and then submitted to the Planning Commission. There will be a public hearing before the Planning Commission. However, I would encourage anyone that has a perspective on the project to get in touch with the City while the project is still being reviewed and there is an (albeit slim) chance of having an positive impact.