Nov. 2024 | Vol. 34 Iss. 11
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CITY SENDS OUT MULTIPLE ENCROACHMENT NOTICES TO HERRIMAN HOMEOWNERS
NOV 15-17 MOUNTAIN AMERICA EXPO CENTER
By Elisa Eames | e.eames@mycityjournals.com
W
hen a Herriman property owner opened his mailbox on a sweltering day in mid-July, he wasn’t expecting anything unusual, much less a city notice stating that improvements in his yard were encroaching on city property. Dated July 9, the notice gave him 10 days to contact the city. Wondering if it could be a scam, the homeowner, who asked his name not be used, dismissed the notice. He also initially doubted the letter’s validity because the structures—a fence and a shed—were there when he purchased the property as a rental in 2022. “How could the property be sold to us in this condition?” he said. The city is not involved in private property sales, and home inspections rarely include boundary surveys indicating encroachment. “The city has been pursuing compliance for illegal encroachments onto public property,” Herriman Communications Manager Jon LaFollette said. “Violation notices have been delivered to multiple people, and the city is working with those people to remove encroachments.” The homeowner wondered about the reason for the seemingly sudden enforcement of the encroachments. “Why is this an issue after 20 years or so of being this way?” he said, referring to the structures on his property. Herriman has worked to address encroachments since 2022 when city employees happened to notice some obvious residential problems. “That made us wonder, how many of these are there?” Herriman Police Division Commander Brent Adamson said. This launched an ongoing discussion about how to han-
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The owner of this home in Herriman received notices from the city stating he needed to move the fence and shed. A survey stake shows where the property ends. (Photo courtesy homeowner)
dle the encroachments, 85 of which have been identified thus far. The city began with the largest issues and is working its way through the list. Herriman anticipates it will be over halfway done resolving existing encroachments by the end of the
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year. “We can only do so much at one time,” Adamson said. The property owner has also expressed disbelief that these encroachments were allowed to be built in the first Continued page 7
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