When the location for the Farmington FrontRunner station was chosen, the land next to it was vacant and ripe for development. There was a lot of talk of using the land to create “transit-oriented development.” It’s potential was even mentioned in a 2007 New York Times article. Unfortunately, just as staying in the presidential suite at a hotel does not make you the President, building a development next to a train station does not make it transit-oriented. I’m not exactly sure where the planning process went wrong in Farmington, but I am well-aware that what has been built there is not what the planners at UTA had envisioned. I usually hop on FrontRunner and make a visit there once every couple months. Walking from the station to the shops, restaurants, and theater requires traversing a vast parking lot with a high risk of being struck by a soccerparent (trying to be gender neutral) driving a minivan. I made a visit there this afternoon and snapped a few photos.
Here’s a view of the Farmington FrontRunner station looking down from the station’s pedestrian bridge which crosses over the FrontRunner and Union Pacific tracks. To the right lies Station Park. Continue reading