Draper committees push for a council hearing on the paused Alpine trail connection

DRAPER — The Parks, Trails and Recreation Committee agreed on Nov. 4 that a proposed trail connection toward Alpine and Three Falls is worth raising with the City Council at a possible joint meeting, according to the committee's record of the session 1.

The open-data summary of the meeting states the committee's position: members argued that loops on the Alpine side could keep visiting mountain bike teams off the Draper side of the hill and could open new terrain for Draper riders, and they agreed the question was worth raising at a possible joint session with the council 1. The summary also records the council's direction: staff have been told to hold off, because the original proposal mostly benefited Alpine residents 1. The fuller discussion is preserved in the transcript on the same page, which names speakers only for officials on the city roster — committee member Jason Wiggins is named there, for example — and leaves the Alpine exchange itself unattributed 1.

The connection would run from Longview — which staff described a year earlier as "basically our most eastern trail" — across to trails on the Alpine side of the ridge 12. Staff said the developer's phase-one version would connect Alpine into Longview rather than reaching the Fort Canyon trailhead 1.

**What was proposed**

Staff told the committee the approach came from a developer building on the Alpine side, who had proposed a phase-one link of roughly a quarter mile to half a mile. That version would have dropped riders at a cul-de-sac in a residential development rather than at the Fort Canyon trailhead, staff said 1.

The land under the full alignment is not the city's to give. Staff put the Draper City share at "about a quarter, maybe a third," with another quarter in Alpine near Three Falls and "the rest of it's private" 1. A year earlier, staff described most of the parcels needed as Draper City open space, Alpine City open space and private ground, with the Fort Canyon trailhead link requiring a private landowner's approval 2.

The alignment is drawn as part of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail system, the county- and statewide route that threads the Wasatch foothills. "Anything you can label BST has yes so this is a good connector," staff said in November 2025 of the same proposal 2.

**What the council directed**

"At this point, the feeling we got from council is not to proceed forward with that because it's a big benefit to Alpine," staff told the committee on Nov. 4, adding that "there's just a lot of complications, a lot of hoops to go through to make that happen" 1. Staff said the city had relayed that direction to the developer and told him to hold off 1.

The proposal is not new. Staff first reported the developer's approach at the committee's Nov. 5, 2025 meeting, describing a two-step build — first to the Fort Canyon trailhead, then on to Three Falls. A committee member called the prospect "like a wish list for like 15 years" 2.

**The committees' case**

"If we can give them some loops, it keeps them off this side of the hill," one member said, describing teams that park on the Alpine side and climb Draper's trails from there 1. Members also said the link would open terrain that Draper riders currently reach only by riding the road through Alpine neighborhoods, and that more loop options would reduce two-way traffic on the Three Falls trail 1. Staff noted that Alpine has built out a substantial trail network in recent years 1.

The Tree Committee took up the same subject at its Nov. 3 meeting, the Draper Herald reported, and also wants the council to hear the case 3. That session is not on the record yet: the open-data index for Nov. 3 lists the agenda and states that no recording or minutes have been published 7.

**Where it stands**

No joint session appeared on the City Council's Nov. 10 agenda, which carried a 6 p.m. study session, a 7 p.m. business session and a single public hearing, on two zoning ordinances covering about 7.71 acres at approximately 267 West 11915 South 4. The city calendar lists council meetings at the chambers, 1020 E. Pioneer Road 5. It could not be established from public records whether the committees have formally requested a joint session or whether a date has been set 13.

The same Nov. 4 meeting also covered the committee's calendar and a project slate. The committee set its 2027 schedule for the first Wednesday of every other month — Jan. 6, March 3, May 5, July 7, Sept. 1 and Nov. 3 — and the open-data summary says it moved the start time an hour earlier, to 6 a.m. 1.

Staff reported the final phase of Jensen Farm Park complete, along with the Puerto Rico Trail and the Rattler bike access, and a bridge flown in by helicopter for about $50,000 1. Ahead are the Hidden Canyon Park build, estimated at roughly $1.2 million with grant funding being pursued, Phoebe Brown Trail Phase 2, the Sunrise Station Park expansion, trailhead gates and new park signage 1.

A separate plan is further along. On May 6 the committee recommended the "Northern Corridor" alignment for the River to Range Trail Connection Plan, a study effort described as bridging the gap between the Jordan River Parkway and the mountain trail system, and asked that a possible link to The Point development be added 6.

What happens next depends on whether a joint session is scheduled. The committee agreed the Alpine connection belongs on that agenda if one is set 1.