My opinion of the Tall Buildings in Cottonwood Heights
What are the pros and cons and the points that people make.
The argument that are against is that it is not who we are having a tall building.
I tend to disagree with that, we already have the most Class A office space in the state outside of Salt Lake City. We are a Class A Office Space enclave, we are pretty much a white collar community because of it.
It will ruin the view shed.
I am not sure it will be ruined, we are talking about 12 stories here, the Beckstrand project that is on the table will not have the highest elevation. So to think this building will all of sudden change the mountain landscape is something I don’t see.
Traffic
This is the only point I see that has any validity.
There are measures that can be taken to mitigate traffic. Not bring it back to the kind of traffic it once was 20-30 years ago. That is a waste of good debating energy.
The City of Cottonwood Heights has already had work done to mitigate traffic in the area. W are talking about intersection of 3000 East and 6200. According to Brad Gibson 95% of the work is complete but we are only seeing 25-30% of the benefit. The improvement will come when completed. The two left turning lanes on 6200 S were extended to hold more cars, the other part of the project is to have 3 left turning lanes on 3000 E. UDOT has to give it’s blessing once that is done then we should have some relief. It’s rush hour folks GET OVER IT.
Now let’s look at the pros
We will have more jobs in the area.
Don’t know about you, but there seems to be a shortage of them around the country and we have the opportunity to have more.
Microsoft opened a shop in Utah County, creating about 100 HIGH PAYING JOBS. I am not a rocket scientist or anything but I think a bunch of high paying jobs is a good thing.
Jobs keep home prices stable and if not stable the values could actually go up. While most of North America is having problems in that arena we can actually create a very favorable market for ourselves.
So again the only valid point I see is traffic.
Taxes
Ah, I know it’s always about the money. Your darn right it’s about the money. Let’s examine where a large chunk of the property taxes go SCHOOLS.
Here we are a white collar community in the 21st Century and our school buildings are mid to late 20th century. Besides the fact that they are old and not able to deal with today’s technological needs, there are some that are seismically unsafe and need to be replaced.
Our school district is looking at a bond of $250 million dollars just to to get phase one of what is needed to make our schools safe and modern. We need a an estimated $650 million dollars, now granted it is for the whole district and not just Cottonwood Heights.
There are a few ways to collect more property taxes (pay for schools).
1. Build more houses that would put more strain on the schools, not smart.
2. Raise taxes that is not something anyone wants BUT a little won’t hurt too bad
3. More Class A Office Space
I have been attending meetings on this issue. The largest group of naysayers come from the Old Mill, Mill Hollow and the Overlook at Old Mill Subdivisions.
At the Cottonwood Heights Planning Meeting they were there in force. Looking like a group of empty nesters, retired or semi-retired gang. For the record they blatantly violated the rules of the meeting and saw no reason for remorse, there was one gentleman that sat and lectured the planning commission.
One woman said she was a photographer and accused the architect of not being true to scale, of course she could tell that by looking at a power point slide from twenty feet away. Another gentleman stood and said that crime would go up including murder.
These things are not based on fact just people that are opposed and as a Veteran of the US Military I defend their right to assemble and express themselves.
These folks that are not concerned with jobs or schools. They have pretty much have had their careers and are now set up. As for schools there kids are done and I am sorry folks if you had started to rebuild our schools during your watch we would not be so far behind. So now we have to play catch up, and that means there is a little more traffic near your home at rush hour to fix the mess that your watch has left behind. I am sorry, there are trailer parks in Arizona, thanks for the fish.
To learn more about the actual building visit The Proposed Tall Building At Old Mill
