This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
If the eastern foothill community of Granite is to become a township, it will have to overcome this taxing question on Election Day:
Why create stronger ties with Salt Lake County when it not only raised property taxes last year but also decided to charge unincorporated suburbs such as Granite an extra fee for policing?
It's a question that could make or break a years-long push to form Granite into the county's seventh unincorporated township — a designation that would protect the community's boundaries and make it more difficult to annex into a neighboring city.
Mike Hansen, chairman of the Granite Community Council and a proponent of a Granite Township, recognizes what he is up against.
"That is a political reality," he said.
Then again, Hansen is keeping his hopes up that the months and months of door-knocking and campaigning will pay off at the polls.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," he said. "We have a good shot, but you just don't know."
Next week's vote could have a transforming impact on this suburb of 2,000 residents at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. If Granite becomes a township, it would join six other unincorporated communities from Millcreek to Magna that have power to protect their boundaries from annexations and make many of their own planning decisions.
But the effort isn't without opposition.
A year ago, Jason Nicholl successfully broke away from Granite with his Bell Canyon Road neighborhood and joined Sandy. The move, he said, has saved him hundreds of dollars a year in taxes. (For one thing, he was able to throw out that bill for police services.)
Nicholl worries that a vote for Granite Township could deprive others of the same opportunity to break away.
"Voting yes for a township takes away property owners' right to self-determine," he said. While annexing out of the township might still be possible, Nicholl said, the standard would be set so high that it would become prohibitive.
Nicholl won't get to vote Nov. 2 on the Granite Township push — he now is a Sandy resident — but he argues a vote for a township would be "wrong."
Both sides have one more week to get their messages across. And the Committee for Granite Township — a pro-township group formed by members of the Granite Community Council — plans more door-knocking and more mailers.
Although the Committee for Granite Township consists of community council members, Hansen said no public funds have been used for advocacy.
County Councilman Max Burdick, who represents that community, said win or lose, the decision is being made the right way.
"It is going to be made by the citizens who live there," he said. "That is self-determination."
The township club
Salt Lake County's six townships are Magna, Kearns, Copperton, Millcreek, White City and Emigration Canyon. Voters will decide Nov. 2 if Granite becomes the seventh.