non-sprawl areas to live near salt lake city? (Ogden, Murray: houses, neighborhoods)

[cullen90]

Hello all. I am considering moving to the Salt Lake City area with my brother who loves Salt Lake City. I want to move to the area and be close to the city, but not live in the city.

My question is this: within 30 minutes of Salt Lake City, are there any communities/towns, about 7,000-40,000 people, that have nice downtowns, and most crucially, have a tasteful/non urban spawl-like character? I have no preference as to the liberal/conservative nature of the town.

From what I've seen and heard, Salt Lake City is amazing. There are breathtakingly beautiful nature areas very close by. The area has a very unique and interesting character, given its latter day saints heritage.

Yet the area seems to have this one major drawback: the area from ogden to orem seems completely littered with a tasteless spawl of ugly housing developments, shopping plazas, etc. It would seem to me that many of the communities in this area lack character and a traditional theme, due to the endless stream of new, haphazard development.

Now I may not have this completely right because I havn't been to the area and I'm relying on internet pictures. But there has got to be some truth to what I'm saying.

So does anyone have any ideas? These again are my specs: within 30 minutes of Salt Lake City, are there any communities/towns, about 7,000-40,000 people, that have nice downtowns, and most crucially, have a tasteful/non urban spawl-like character?

Any ideas would be very greatly appeciated.

[coolcats]

[quote=cullen90;633074]
Yet the area seems to have this one major drawback: the area from ogden to orem seems completely littered with a tasteless spawl of ugly housing developments, shopping plazas, etc. It would seem to me that many of the communities in this area lack character and a traditional theme, due to the endless stream of new, haphazard development.
QUOTE]

You are sort of right. I think the area suffers from urban sprawl also. The actual downtown of SLC is distinct. You could live in one of the neighborhoods adjacent. SLC is not so big that you will feel like you are living in Manhattan. Murray has also done a good job of preserving its character and downtown feel. That’s perhaps 10 miles from downtown SLC. Then Park City is its own unique town because it is separated from the main metropolis by a mountain Canyon. Other than that, I tend to agree with you, but maybe someone else knows of some hidden gems.

[chazcrew]

Within thirty minutes either north or south of SLC, you're still in sprawl. There are lots of cities along the wasatch front, but they're all sort of meshing together into one big, continuous city. Some do have their own little main streets or downtown areas, but their outlying areas have expanded so much that the city is no longer distinct. You'd probably have to go farther than 30 minutes away to find a truly distinct, self-contained town.

[cullen90]

Thanks for the info. I will have to check out Murray. I will say this though, the problem seems bad enough that it would prevent me from moving to the area. Any Utah folks who read this post, I hope they talk to their legislature about improving this problem and supporting the trax rail and other means of reducing sparwl.

Again, the problem seems severe enough that it would prevent me from moving there. But does it bother others? I don't think it does all that much. Everyone seems to be happy to be close to Walmarts and shopping malls and to live in charmless brand-new McMansions or McHouse housing developments. Old houses have character. Traditionally planned communities have character. Nature and open land has character. Spawl areas have no character, are faceless and lack charm.

With all of the money that is being poured into the area, you would think that creating sustainable, attractive development would be more than possible. But incredibly enough, things don't seem to work that way.

It comes down to this: sprawl is occuring because people want it to. Why do people want it? I simply can't wrap my mind around it. I suppose people think the point of life is being able to afford and live in the biggest/highest value house possible, or that the quality of their lives completely hinges on the size of their house, thus work hard simply so that they can buy bigger/higher value homes. Or people do not really see themselves as part of a township and thus do not care about the charm of the town, only that it has the "convenience" of a wallmart nearby. Also, for some mind-boggling reason, everything has to be new. So when the area gets used up, and houses get older, people will sell their homes for huge profit and find some new up and unused place to go to. Perhaps people act this way simply because everyone else does. I honestly do not know.

It is frustratiing because it is all so incredibly illogical.

[powerlumina77]

We're moving to the Ogden area next week, leaving Philly sprawl that I don't think Utah could ever top. I hate it too, and don't want to add to it. So we're going to take a good look at Ogden itself to avoid adding to the problem. Anyways, there was a good article in the New York Times (online) about the light rail system last week, and how the newer communities are being built along the stops in place and planned. At least there's some effort being made.

[coolcats]

Have you thought about Daybreak? I'll admit I'm not a huge fan because I think the homes are overpriced for what you get. But it is a new community built around some of the principles you mentioned -- preserving open space etc. They are building a light rail extension out there.

[yellowsnow]

I don't live in Utah anymore. I had to move for work.

I think you may find what you are looking for IN Salt Lake. 2 areas to check out are Sugarhouse and the Avenues. It's great to be able to walk to a restaurant, store, or coffeeshop.

I wish I was moving back to Utah. Best of luck!

[chazcrew]

Cullen, I think there are lots of reasons. One huge one, for me at least, is crime. Inner cities have crime. Suburbs have less crime. So we move out to the sprawl to have a safer place to live and raise our kids.

Another reason is yes, I prefer a newer house. Older houses often have bad wiring, plumbing, roofs, foundations. Small closets, narrow halls, inconvenient kitchens. They do have charm, and I love to look at them, but I don't find them comfortable to live in. A house is an enormous investment, and I'd like to end up with something comfortable.

Then there's cost: it is often far more expensive to live in the city, or close to it, than farther away.

I'm not saying sprawl is good, and in fact, I hate many aspects of it, but I totally get why it happens.

[LlasaLost]

Oh, I hate to bring this up--but sprawl doesn't just happen if there are no new people moving into an area! So, what to do? As mentioned, there needs to be more (and wiser) city planning and zoning going on, but without the building of lots of houses there wouldn't be a place for lots of people to live, would there (or reverse that: without a lot of people moving in there wouldn't be a lot of houses being built. Right?)

[JCMINIS]

My family and I have been looking into moving to Ut.We need to be within daily driving to snowbird(6 days a week).I can not find what I want from Ut.Our town here in NC is tiny(less than 1000 people).My concerns may be on a lower level than yours,but the same in a sense.

JC