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Draper council reviews station-area concept, debates building heights and placement of housing
Summary
At a study session, city staff presented a station-area concept covering city and UTA properties that emphasizes mixed-use, plazas and trail connections. Council members raised concerns about residential density on Pioneer Street, suggesting housing be concentrated on the UTA side and that large buildings be broken up and stepped down.
City staff presented a conceptual station-area plan that centers mixed-use development, plazas and new trail connections on both city-owned land and adjacent UTA property.
"We talked about hiring a consultant to create rendering so you can help visualize what this may look like," said Jen (presenter), who led the overview of proposed buildings, plazas and trail corridors connecting the library, city hall and the station. The renderings showed three-story retail with two stories of residences on city property and five-story mixed-use buildings on UTA land with structured parking entered from the south.
The plan includes an open-space corridor on UTA property intended to buffer the Parkstone neighborhood and create a direct trail link to the station. Jen said the team has tried to "step back" upper floors on taller buildings so they do not present as monolithic five-story blocks.
Several council members, however, pushed back on locating higher-density housing along Pioneer Street. One council member said, "I'm significantly more concerned about Pioneer...and more significantly concerned about density there," and urged putting housing closer to the UTA side to "alleviate traffic on Pioneer and trying to make Pioneer more of the gathering place." The councilor added the community is not used to buildings taller than two stories along that corridor.
Council members and staff discussed design remedies to reduce the perceived mass of large buildings, including breaking up building faces, staggering heights, and creating visible interior plazas or green space so surrounding residents can see accessible open space rather than a blank façade.
Jen noted some constraints: developers on UTA property have indicated five stories as a minimum, so the plan must balance UTA preferences, city design goals and neighborhood expectations. She summarized next steps: refine the drawings, meet the stakeholder committee, hold a public open house and return to council in March for formal review.
The council did not take any formal action on the station-area plan during this meeting; staff said code amendments and development agreements could be used later to secure access to open space and required design features if the concept advances.
