SALT LAKE CITY -- Local lawmakers are meeting this week with residents, local leaders and transportation officials to discuss the proposed West Davis Corridor.
"I'm going to walk the area (Saturday)," said Rep. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton.
On Friday afternoon, he, along with Rep. Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, Rep. Julie Fisher, R-Fruit Heights, and Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, met with Utah Department of Transportation officials and mayors from Kaysville and Farmington to discuss the proposed preferred route and other options.
Public meetings to discuss the project are scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Farmington Arts and Community Center, 120 S. Main St., and 7 p.m. Thursday at the Syracuse Arts Academy, 2893 W. 1700 South.
Stevenson said he has received at least 300 e-mails from Davis County residents upset by the proposed routes for the West Davis Corridor project.
Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, said he also is getting a lot of e-mails and phone calls from Syracuse, West Point and Clinton residents who are upset.
"They're mad, hopping mad over it," Ray said.
Ray said residents believe they've been blindsided by a plan that was never talked about.
"It's important to remember we are in the beginning stages of this project and nothing is final," Stevenson said.
Technically there is nothing any of the state lawmakers can do at this point, except listen to their constituents, meet with city and county leaders and with UDOT officials, lawmakers said.
Wilson said he is frustrated with the proposals because "no indication was given" that the highway, which would extend Legacy Parkway north, would go into the proposed areas. If there had been any indication, he said, he believes the cities and counties would have done what they could to preserve the areas.
Wilson and Adams, who are each developers, said they did not develop any land that is in the proposed areas.
Instead, county and city officials have been attempting to buy up land and zone the area they thought would be the West Davis Corridor of Legacy Parkway.
Stevenson, who was Layton's mayor when Legacy was being built, said "there is a history there," which includes a lawsuit that almost stopped the construction of the parkway. Environmentalists wanted to keep the highway from going through wetland areas.
Wilson said he believes personal property rights, old farms, homes and businesses outweigh the wetlands.
He is also concerned that one portion of the proposed corridor north of Farmington is 100 feet narrower than Legacy, which is south of Farmington.
It doesn't give room for growth, he said.
Adams said residents who are concerned about the proposed routes need to get involved by attending meetings, sending e-mails to UDOT and "be part of the process. Public input is important to UDOT."
Adams, who is "passionate about mobility," said he would like to see a route that would not disrupt a neighborhood, but does not think it will be entirely possible.
UDOT has to consider how the proposed routes will affect private property and also the impact it will have on wetlands and the environment, Adams said.
"This process is not done and is far from over," he said.
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