FARMINGTON — If the road has to happen, no one wants it to happen nearby.

In a 4-1 vote, Farmington City council approved a master transportation plan to submit to the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), outlining the city’s desire to see the West Davis Corridor as far to the south and to the west as possible.

Concerned residents of mostly west Farmington named off losing their homes, putting up with noise, danger and poor air quality as just a few of the things that bothered them about what the city has come up with as the preferred corridor to present to UDOT. Farmington City transportation engineer Tim Taylor was on hand with council and staff members Tuesday night as they listened to and tried to answer the concerns of residents at a public hearing.

One group of residents, 230 of them, handed over a signed petition that the council reconsider what’s been called the original plan for the West Davis Corridor and align it on the east side of the city, right next to Interstate 15.

“The original plan simply doesn’t work because of the growth rate of the area,” said Taylor. He presented all five proposals for the corridor Tuesday night, after which council members voted to approve the West Davis Corridor alignment with Glover Lane and heading far south and west.

City council members emphasized that this plan is not set in stone, but something to present to UDOT. So far, UDOT has no plans set forth in its transportation plan of the next six years as far as the West Davis Corridor in Farmington is concerned. At this point, UDOT is simply gathering information and input from the public.

“They have to follow a federal process that will look at every possible angle and every possible corridor before moving forward with anything,” said Taylor.

Amid tears and frustration, residents expressed that if UDOT could not follow the original plan of an east-side corridor, they would prefer to have the new road as far away from homes as it could possibly be.

Taylor again emphasized that UDOT will pick the corridor with the least impact on residents and on the environment. The city council agreed that it needed to move forward with getting the plan to UDOT in order to keep things rolling and have an idea for its own roadway design in the western part of the city.

“I’d just like to see the changes in the text before we move forward, “ said Farmington City council member Cory Ritz as he opposed the approval of the master plan.

The changes Farmington City made included language to relay to UDOT the concern of residents losing their homes and property. Council members said they would like the language to be such that UDOT will have respect for the homes currently in the area and avoid them wherever possible. The city would also like UDOT to keep in mind the city’s desire to have the corridor as far south and west as possible.

“Give it some verbiage that says we’d like to see the corridor to align below those homes,” said Farmington City council member Rick Dutson, who was filling in for the absence of Mayor Scott Harbertson.

What the decision boiled down to was the fact that UDOT will take everything into consideration, including the input of Farmington residents. It also came down to the fact that plans and construction are nowhere near ready to begin, as UDOT has promised a three to five-year study to include many different federal agencies to make the best possible decision on the corridor. In truth, UDOT may still pick any one of the five various corridors or even come up with their own.

“There is not a resident who doesn’t have in the back of his mind, ‘is this going to be in my backyard?’” said Ritz. “Hopefully, UDOT can wave a magic wand and come up with something that won’t impact a single duck egg. If not, then we have to give them something to work with.”

Farmington City council encouraged residents to be involved with the study UDOT will begin. The approved proposal of an alignment with Glover Lane will be presented to UDOT as the city’s preferred corridor, after which UDOT will continue its own study and make a decision from that.

“What we have is a difference between comments based on emotion and actual facts,” said Taylor. “UDOT will pick the corridor with the least impact on the citizens.”

sroberts@davisclipper.com