There is a lot of discussion about what the difference is between Rural, Suburban, and Urban. There are several websites that discuss this, so I will just briefly identify the three types and what they include.
- Rural: of or relating to the country, country people or life, or agriculture.
- Suburban: an outlying part of a city or town – a smaller community adjacent to or within commuting distance of a city.
- Urban: of, relating to, characteristic of, or constituting a city.
Urbanization is the process of making an area transform from Rural or Suburban to a Urban area. “Urbanization the process by which large numbers of people become permanently concentrated in relatively small areas, forming cities. The definition of what constitutes a city changes from time to time and place to place, but it is most usual to explain the term as a matter of demographics.” [
Source] The site
conserve-energy-future.com discusses some of the issues with urbanization. They include: Housing Problems, Overcrowding, Unemployment, Development of Slums, Water and sanitation problems, Poor health and spread of disease, as well as Urban Crime. The article also says that Urbanization is not all bad. It continues, “Urbanization yields several positive effects if it happens within the appropriate limits. Some of the positive implications of urbanization therefore include creation of employment opportunities, technological and infrastructural advancements, improved transportation and communication, quality educational and medical facilities, and improved standards of living. However, extensive urbanization mostly results in adverse effects.”
There have been several surveys out there that have usually combined already Urban areas with Eagle Mountain. The mindsets of those who live in an Urban area as opposed to those living a Rural or Suburban life are different. I thought it would be a good idea to take a survey of just Eagle Mountain Residents on what they feel is the best density and open space for Eagle Mountain. I also collected some demographic information from the respondents. I posted the request on Facebook as well as on this website. In total 210 Eagle Mountain residents responded to the survey. The results show that the majority of those surveyed want Eagle Mountain to stay more Rural/Suburban than Urban in nature. If you would like a copy of the raw data, let me know and I will share that info with you.
NOTE: The scale or rating questions are listed as most preferred to least preferred based on the answers in the survey.
Density and Zoning Answers
Open Space Answers
Survey Respondents Housing Demographics
Survey Respondents Demographics
Free Form Questions
It should be noted that these questions have not been edited in anyway, they are as they were typed. Having said that Cedar Valley Sentinel (formerly i84005) is not responsible for the grammar or content of these free form answers.
What is the main concern you have with living in Eagle Mountain?
- Too much higher density. There are a lot of starter homes, but not a lot of homes to raise a family and settle long term in.
- Rapid growth, that services and infrastructure cannot keep up with.
- The growth and loss of open land. Traveling in and out is a pain dealing with the traffic and lack of ways in and out of our beautiful City.
- Lack of roads to exit/enter
- Too much high density coming in and too little commercial.
- To much high density housing going in
- Housing is too dense. Infrastructure and Light commercial are not keeping up with residential growth. We need to preserve on developed open space.
- Roads and infrastructure
- I do not worry about long term but I do have concerns with the short term growth vs infrastructure. I know infrastructure usually lags behind development so we must go through some growing pains
- Too many small lots, no meaningful commercial, ill informed politicians
- Too much high density housing
- The growth is crazy, I’m afraid that the city will make poor choices and Eagle Mountain becomes the next West Valley.
- City growing too much, getting too crowded. Too much high density housing.
- I feel like the city is growing way too fast. I’m not opposed to growth, I’m just concerned that it’s occurring too fast for roads, schools, government, etc. Most of us moved here for the country feel, open space and cost of living. Those are all slipping away. I’m hoping the city will slow down. Add new small businesses and potentially some larger ones, build more schools and continue to improve roads before allowing thousands more people to build here. It’s so disappointing to see so much open space be bulldozed. I would love to see more homes built with appropriate sized lots. (.25-.30 of an acre) Homes now are built on postage stamp lots. Thank you for the opportunity to share our opinions. It’s much appreciated.
- Population growth and roads
- Growing too fast and not enough roads to support the growth.
- The amount of building happening. I would hate to see townhomes, apartments and condos take over our beautiful views and also the additional traffic that it adds. I understand that building has to happen but it is happening to rapidly. Also large buildings blocking the views of the mountains and taking over the open space. It makes me sad that we will now see the Tyson Chicken plant pollution filling the sky to the West. We moved here because of the open spaces, clean air and somewhat of a small town feel. Hate to see it go away so quickly.
- Current and future development focuses on packing in houses and people with little to no thought on quality of life and community over the long term. Focus seems to be on forcing fast growth without looking at long term effects of poor planning.
- High density housing
- Insufficient establishment of city government to provide services at a rate to keep pace with rapid growth (code enforcement in particular)
- Local commerce
- Loss of natural open space to dense housing development
- increasing levels of bullying in schools and between citizens
- It’s growing way too fast and they’re cramming in as many houses as possible. I see it as the want for more money and the lack of concern for the people already here.
- Infrastructure and multi-family communities
- Growing faster than we can keep up with. We need to be able to grow while keeping a small town feel and being able to manage the growth primarily with road infrastructure.
- Contractors and inspectors in bed together…… my house’s stud are 22†apart and I had to foam jack my porch and driveway after it was repoured at least twice. My plumbing is also a nightmare. Everything gets sent down to a French moat and then has to be pumped back up to be sent off to wherever sewage goes. The pump doing all the work only lasts about 2-3 years because everything was set up so poorly.
- Too many people. Growing too fast. Too many people.
- TRAFFIC also We need a balance between the agriculture and the Apartments and townhomes coming in. We need less of both.
- Traffic and commute
- Want to keep our open spaces and agriculture spaces. Limit high density housing.
- The amount of high density housing and the lot sizes of new construction.
- Road accessibility
- Growth management
- We are building far too many apartment complexes.
- Major concern is more businesses in Eagle Mountain. A better grocery store than Ridleys, more restaurants, a recreational facility, better parks and rec.
- Infrastructure – busy roads going through neighborhoods. We have horses and trails are disappearing! Please preserve the promises made when we moved here.
- Poor planning/design/zoning decisions that lead to inferior quality of life, crime, and congestion.
- I love the community. I love all the small events
- They need to attract larger businesses like Comcast
- That it’s growing quickly and roads can’t keep up with the traffic
- Small lots, distance to shopping.
- Vanishing wildlife and natural beauty
- As Silicon Slopes builds out and Lehi is full, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain are the next best place for young professionals to build their families. The lower cost out here won’t persist forever. We need to be prepared to become a community that keeps people as they’re ready to move up rather than turn into another Orem (or as some I talk to fear West Valley City). Let’s keep this place clean and well-planned and a great mix of people across the economic spectrum.
- Right now all the open space that’s going away. I don’t like that new bunch of construction they just started.
- Too much catering to developers.
- Traffic increasing with growing population and few main roads in and out of the city.
- I am so sick of all the multi-family dwelling and high-density going up. Our mayor, council, planning commission are selling out to the builders! Our traffic sucks and is getting worse every minute. We are going to be living on top of one another! This is terrible!! I’ve expressed concerns to all these groups and they keep citing the grandfathered plan, the master plan. Bull Shit! We elected you to take care of this, do something about it!!
- Revenue from taxes is going to become a problem if we don’t bring in more businesses.
- Not enough business in city center
- “Not enough emphasis on residents wanting larger lots and protecting our wildlife. EM is loosing its rural feel and that is one of the main reasons we moved here. The amount of high density housing and overall property values declining because of the high density, lack of transportation and lack of commercial businesses. I do feel our current City Council is trying to improve some of these areas. I wish some of the survey allowed more than one decision.”
What question was not asked that you would like to answer?
- How hard are we really working on at attracting large business
- Should the city council approve more high density? The answer is hell no
- Why don’t more citizens pay attention to and hold accountable the poor decisions made by the council and mayor
- Is the city really considering the future of this city?
- None that I can think of. Great questions.
- Would you like a community garden system spread through open space or adjacent to parks? Yes.
- Future traffic mgmt
- How would you prefer to see natural open space preserved or utilized?
- do not ever allow another large business to come in here with behind closed door meetings and no name released and huge corporate welfare incentives.
- I think we need to ask what would you like to see in Eagle Mountain’s future. Also your questions need an other choice as I did not find the best answer for me on all your questions.
- Good question. Maybe, how shady is your HOA? I can’t even find contact information for them.
- Where is the liquor store?
- Road construction and road improvements.
- How do we get an HOA back?
- What are my thoughts on Utah stream access pertaining to fly fishermen.
- Do you like living in Eagle Mountain, and would you recommend it to others? My answer, I love living in Eagle Mountain and absolutely!
- Why is the city trying to put major road corridors in residential areas (with horses)?Please preserver what was planned when we moved here.
- Should Eagle Mountain have a wildlife preserve? Yes
- Saratoga Springs will continue to get most businesses as it’s more central.
- Great survey.. Asked pertinent questions. Thanks for doing this
- A critique on one of the questions that asked if I were to move would I get into larger Lots or larger houses or smaller Lots or smaller houses. There was no answer which indicated that we had exactly what we wanted
- What is something that you would like as a resident of Eagle Mountain? I would like to see a sidewalk in Silverlake between the amphitheater and Copperbend Road completed. I would also like the road that was supposed to connect Woodhaven to the Brookhaven Elementary School. I would like to see the Jr. Jazz and any other recreation opportunity done by regions of Eagle Mountain instead of as a whole. Games in City Center and Silverlake at the same time kind of sucks. Saratoga does a good job at this with their different parks for soccer (one region goes to Neptune, another to Sunrise Park, and the final is out in South Saratoga).
- “Government spending
Code enforcement
Street maintenance”
- Do people want to keep this a slower paced, family friendly town, with no liquor stores or bars…
- If your choice for your next housing option is outside of Eagle Mountain, what specifically would need to change for you to be able to or want to stay in Eagle Mountain?
- Rec center
- Your place of business distance did not take into account working from home
- More questions on roads and their impact on the density. If you want to keep building high density then you need to build transit to go with it. If you are unwilling to add transit, then stop building high density houses
- What kinds of businesses should we invite to.build.
- whether or not tacos should be the official food of Eagle Mountain.
- What part of Eagle Mountain do you live?
- Are your neighbors to close to you? Yes.
- What should developers be contributing to roadway improvement/expansion before they add to the congestion with more development?
- What is your preferred speed for main arterial roads in EM
- My question is how will this information be used to make a change?
- What’s the plan for the golf course if it fails? What type of businesses are we missing? What can be done in the areas under the power lines to better utilize the space? How can we better integrate the quarry into our traffic pattern?
- Are we ever going to enforce people taking care of the property… that would be great for everyone and help to increase property value and make CC a place people want to live and stay…
- How does living in Eagle Mountain make you feel?
- Please build a grocery store near the City Hall/Library area of Eagle Mountain. There are so many people out there and the next nearest grocery store is 15 minutes away. It’s very difficult if I run out of something!
- When would you like to see commercial spring up in Eagle Mountain? – Immediately. Saratoga Springs due to their rapid growth and expansion is building many forms of commercial that are not available in EM and are reaping the benefits of EM’s citizens buying goods and services in SS.
- Traffic in, out and round the city
- The category for lots was divided between 1/8 to 1/4 and 1/4 to 1/2. I think the ideal, realistic lot size for most people falls between these categories at 0.2 to 0.3
- I had problems getting the survey to line up on mobile. The main reason I moved here was price. The main reason I stay is the people.
- More and more housing gets approved without proper planning for infrastructure, specifically roads. The roads are overcrowded and the plans to improve them to increase flow doesn’t work. The final construction of mountain view corridor on this end has only pushed the traffic jam up the hill it hasn’t solved anything.
- How do we feel about medical services?
- Recreation center, public pool.
- What industry to bring to town.
- Nothing, just wanted to say the city is full of fucking assholes including the mayor, mayor mcasshole.
- Is the housing growth happening too fast? Yes!
- Why are there still subdivisions that are landlocked? Every subdivision should have at least two ways to get out of the city. If there was an evacuation, the residence would be in serious trouble! Another multiple lane road needs to built leading from SR72 to Pony Express.
- How are you going to handle the huge growth of this area with only one way out going East?
- Something related to road infrastructure and commuting. It seems we first get the increase in population and commuter problems, then we eventually get the roads needed for increased traffic.
- Increased public transportation
- Should home business (licensed) be allowed in subdivisions?
- “Should Eagle Mountain try to pattern itself like other cities?
NO”
- Is there a master plan for the future that will protect open spaces?
- Encourage solar piwer
- Thanks for the survey!
- What can the city do better? Absolve predatory HOAs.
I would like to thank the residents that took this survey. It has been an eye opening exercise for me. There were a total of 210 unique Eagle Mountain residents that took the survey. I look forward to additional surveys in the future on some of the subjects that are asked that were not answered in this survey. It should also be noted that this survey was not officially sponsored or endorsed by Eagle Mountain City. It was also shared to my friend group, which is rural/suburban minded, which may of also influenced the results. Every effort was made to contact as many people through Facebook as possible.
Mike Kieffer is an IT geek by hobby and trade, with a BS in Information Systems & Technology. He is a proud father of 10, a grandpa, an author, a journalist, and internet publisher. His motto is to “Elevate, Inspire and Inform”, and he is politically conservative and a Christian. Mike has a passion for technology, writing, and helping others. With a wealth of experience, he is committed to sharing his knowledge with others to help them reach their full potential. He is known for his jackassery or his form of self-expression that encourages boldness, creativity, and risk-taking. It can be a way to push the boundaries and challenge traditional norms, leading to creative solutions and positive change.
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Urbanization is the process of making an area transform from Rural or Suburban to a Urban area. “Urbanization the process by which large numbers of people become permanently concentrated in relatively small areas, forming cities. The definition of what constitutes a city changes from time to time and place to place, but it is most usual to explain the term as a matter of demographics.” [Source] The site conserve-energy-future.com discusses some of the issues with urbanization. They include: Housing Problems, Overcrowding, Unemployment, Development of Slums, Water and sanitation problems, Poor health and spread of disease, as well as Urban Crime. The article also says that Urbanization is not all bad. It continues, “Urbanization yields several positive effects if it happens within the appropriate limits. Some of the positive implications of urbanization therefore include creation of employment opportunities, technological and infrastructural advancements, improved transportation and communication, quality educational and medical facilities, and improved standards of living. However, extensive urbanization mostly results in adverse effects.”
There have been several surveys out there that have usually combined already Urban areas with Eagle Mountain. The mindsets of those who live in an Urban area as opposed to those living a Rural or Suburban life are different. I thought it would be a good idea to take a survey of just Eagle Mountain Residents on what they feel is the best density and open space for Eagle Mountain. I also collected some demographic information from the respondents. I posted the request on Facebook as well as on this website. In total 210 Eagle Mountain residents responded to the survey. The results show that the majority of those surveyed want Eagle Mountain to stay more Rural/Suburban than Urban in nature. If you would like a copy of the raw data, let me know and I will share that info with you.
Mike – I think the survey turned out very well; a lot of thought went into it and I really hope that a lot of serious thoughts come from it. There are a number of people here who could put this information to good, constructive use – and Eagle Mountain would be a much better place because of it. Thanks!
Charles, thanks for the complement. I hope that it does make it to the right people.