April 25, 2008

Wasatch Hollow Community Members

I should like to take this opportunity to respond to some questions and concerns expressed at our Community Council Meeting on April 23, 2008.

The first issue is ACCESS - Access to the properties in “the Gully” between 1800 E on the north and 1600 E on the south bounded by private properties on both the east and west for this length.

At this time any access is TRESPASSING and is being done by teenagers and adults who

knowingly do so (excepting county flood control persons). Teenagers are visible during any good weather days swinging from the 3 or 4 rope swings along the stream. Others are engaged in war games with paint balls and pellet guns. Still others build huts on the flats or river bottom which provides secrecy for drugs and sex.

Adults walk and let their dogs run freely along the pathway established by years of abuse.

Vagrants inhabit the area from time to time, camping out, exposing themselves to hoever is near and seeking easy access to unguarded homes.

In this same area access is also had by much of the wildlife that enjoy the habitat: birds, deer, red fox, raccoons, squirrels, rats, field mice, etc.

These are all examples of increasing access/trespass to this precious riparian area.

Let me share some time references to help understand the development that has occurred since 1909 in this area, encompassing Wasatch Hollow Community.

Subdivision Development

1909 – University Heights – 1300 E to 1600 E, 1300 South to Kensington

1909 – College View – 1300 E to 1600 E, 1300 South to 1700 South

1910 – University Heights, 2nd Addition – 1600 E to 1700 E, 1700 S to 1300 S

1923 – Beverly Heights – 1700 E to 1900 E, 1700 S to Logan Avenue

1940 – Belview Gardens – 1700 E to 1900 E/Bryan to –

1948 – Hillside – Browning Circle

1950 – Rosecrest – both sides of Rosecrest Drive

? - Colonial – Harrison Avenue to 1300 South

1959 - Clayton Junior High

1962 – Knowlton purchase of two acres 1665 Kensington property

As you can see by these subdivision and additional dates the area surrounding Emigration Creek took 40 years to build to the edge. During those years “the gully” was a children’s playground with access and accountability to nature and wildlife habitat, the State Penitentiary (which drained water from Hodson’s Spring for use at the prison on 2100 South), and a Chicken Farm owned by John VanderEnde.

We have a rare opportunity now to secure, restore, and preserve what is left of this unique

riparian habitat. We can provide a glimpse of the past and offer a sanctuary and an educational and ecological laboratory to benefit our community far into the future. I hope we will have the courage and foresight to work together to make this happen.

The second issue is TRUST – Who can we trust to tell us the truth?

For starters we can arm ourselves with information gathered from the public records. We have a responsibility to seek the facts and not rely on hearsay or misrepresented quotes.

We need to address our council representatives with our concerns and offer our assistance in accomplishing our goals.

Both Jill Remington-Love and J.T. Martin were present at our meeting and gave clear accounting of past misconceptions and restated current commitments to work with us in dealing justly with our individual concerns and community goals.

We voted for these representatives and they accepted the responsibility to uphold the law and be our advocates. We need to move forward in good faith.

The city of Salt Lake under the leadership of the new mayor, Ralph Becker, has moved forward to facilitate the Salt Lake Open Space Lands Program by hiring Emy Storheim as the Program Manager. She too was present at our council meeting and shared the current status of the negotiations with the current owners of the 1665 Kensington property. She is knowledgeable, forthright, and eager to proceed to acquire this property and the easement on the LDS church property. She believes that this is a very unique area and it deserves our best efforts to preserve it.

I believe she can and should be trusted to bring a fresh, open minded look at acquiring this land and working with us to help it remain precious far into the future.

Also at our council meeting was Janice Jardine, Salt Lake City Council Office Land Use Policy Analyst and Robyn Geist, Account Manager for Wilkinson Ferrari & Co. Both of these women have direct knowledge of the progress and development of the Riparian Corridor Overlay on a day to day basis. They came to inform us with background information, current status information, and information on how we can take an active part in providing them with our concerns and ideas.

Upon my inquiry, I was invited to attend a meeting with both the consulting company and Janice where I and others were able to state our concerns and share our dreams in relation to the Riparian Corridor Overlay. We all have been invited to do the same. I hope you will.

We are now in our fourth year in this open space acquisition process.

This is the first year of the Riparian Corridor Overlay with time lines established for study and implementation. Given the time it took to get here since 1909, I believe we can be grateful that there is still time to become part of the solution to these important issues in our community. We need to commit ourselves to becoming partners in the stewardship of this unique area within our Wasatch Hollow Community.

Anne Cannon