Canyons says The Point's 840 homes would add about 200 students to three Draper schools

The Canyons Board of Education was told on Oct. 6 that the first for-sale residential development planned at The Point would fall inside the current attendance boundaries of Alta High School, Draper Park Middle School and Willow Springs Elementary School, and that it could bring an estimated 200 students to the district 1.

Business Administrator Leon Wilcox gave the estimate in a report on the district's long-range planning 1. The development plan calls for 840 units on 50 acres — 160 detached homes, 370 townhomes and 310 condos — with construction set to begin in 2027 and the development expected to be completed by 2029, according to the district's summary of the meeting 1.

The estimate arrives while the district's enrollment is falling. Canyons counted 30,365 students at its last count, a decrease of 2,566 since the 2022-23 school year, the district reported 1. Statewide, enrollment has fallen from roughly 675,000 in 2022 to about 661,000, and the district projects about 577,000 public school students in Utah in 10 years if current trends continue 1.

In April, Wilcox told the board that high-density housing does not produce students at the rate single-family homes do, saying, "We get roughly six to eight for every 100 units," during public hearings on proposed school consolidations, the Draper Herald reported, citing the Draper Journal 2.

The authority's solicitation for the River District describes a wider range than the district's 840 units. On July 13 the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority released a request for statements of qualifications seeking one or more developers to build approximately 50 acres of for-sale housing in the development's River District, which the authority said is anticipated to accommodate approximately 800 to 900 units 3. The Draper Herald reported that The Salt Lake Tribune described the July solicitation as up to 900 homes, and that the reason for the difference between that count and the district's 840-unit figure is not clear from public records 2.

The River District sits immediately west of Porter Rockwell Boulevard and adjacent to a planned FrontRunner station, the authority said 3. Its release states that backbone infrastructure is already under way, that Porter Rockwell Boulevard is expected to be completed by late 2026 and the adjacent roads in summer 2027, and that vertical construction in the district is expected to begin in spring 2028 3. Statements of qualifications were due Aug. 14, and the authority said it anticipates selecting one or more developers by the end of 2026 3.

The Point occupies 600 acres of state-owned land. Its first phase, the Promenade, is planned to include more than 2 million square feet of office space, about 3,000 multi-family housing units and 222,000 square feet of retail, shopping and restaurants, according to the authority 4.

The district's Long-Range Planning Committee met Friday, Oct. 9 to review the residential development plans and current enrollment figures 1. The committee is also evaluating a proposal from MGT Impact Solutions, a Tampa, Fla.-based demographics consulting firm the district identified through a competitive process as its preferred vendor for a 10-year study that would examine boundaries, attendance patterns, facility uses, program placements and renovation or construction projects 1. No contract has been finalized 2.

The board also heard survey results on school calendars, drawn from about 5,000 responses: 65.8 percent of respondents preferred first semester to end immediately before Winter Recess, and 44.4 percent preferred a fixed A/B schedule, with A days on Mondays and Wednesdays, B days on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Fridays alternating, the district reported 1. The administration is moving forward with the semester-end change beginning in the 2027-28 school year, with formal proposals for the 2028-29 calendar and a tentative 2029-30 calendar to follow once the 2027-28 calendar is confirmed 1.