Farr West wall on I-15 at issue

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FARR WEST -- Dick Gamble was happy to sign a petition 21/2 years ago to put a sound wall between his home and Interstate 15, as long as it did not go farther north than 2700 North.

His business, Intermountain Boat and Truck Sales, at about 3000 North, is on a strip of land between State Highway 126 and I-15. Gamble said he gets 65 percent of his business from people who drive by, so a view-blocking barrier could sink him.

About a week ago, he returned from a trip and noticed construction crews setting up large concrete pylons, the first stage of creating a sound wall, between his business and I-15. Since then, he has been talking to neighbors, city officials and Utah Department of Transportation, trying to keep the wall from going up.

"These guys are beating up on me," he said. "That's where we get our business."

Gamble is not alone. The disputed sound wall affects about three businesses and a half-dozen homes.

For Kathy Gibb and her husband, who own a heavy equipment sales and rental company, the sound wall will run along their property for 100 feet -- just enough to obscure their sign.

More than a decade ago, the Gibbs located their business, Pacific Tri-Star Inc., near the freeway because of the visibility. That proximity has its downside, she said, when the occasional car flies off the road and hits a bulldozer, but the free advertising more than makes up for it.

Some homeowners, though, see the sound wall as a good thing.

Hattie Rochell and her husband moved into their home 40 years ago.

"There's a lot more cars going down the road now," she said. "We're definitely for it (the sound wall)." Rochell said the barrier might even increase her property value.

Her neighbor, Gamble, expects his property value to drop from about $500,000 to $250,000. He said if he had known the wall was going up, he would have fought it earlier

"I understood it would not go past 2700 North. The mayor (of Farr West) understood it would not go past 2700 North," he said. Both Gibb and Mayor Jimmie Papageorge confirm that UDOT told them the wall would not go past the interstate at 2700 North.

Brent DeYoung, a UDOT project manager, said the plan was always to go to 3100 North. He cites an environmental impact study from 2004, which he distributed to the affected community, showing plans for the wall between 2700 North and 3100 North.

"This was the plan from the beginning," DeYoung said.

Papageorge said he remembers a woman circulating the petition for the sound wall at Farr West's Fourth of July party in 2005. "She said it would only go to 2700 North," he said.

Gamble has considered suing UDOT to have the wall removed, but admits it's an uphill battle. DeYoung said it is unlikely the agency could change plans now, "since we've already invested a significant amount putting the wall in."

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