Bench mark: Mogul of Daybreak aims to shape western Salt Lake valley's future

SOUTH JORDAN (Deseret News) — When Don Whyte steps onto the front porch of his two-story Daybreak colonial, he's greeted by a pick-your-superlative panorama of the Salt Lake Valley and Wasatch Mountains' majesty.

But if Whyte's wow-inspiring vantage is to live for, it's been planned for, too, starting with Brigham Young going on the grid by intersecting 100 South with 200 East to become the patron Latter-day Saint of urban planning.

From high on the mountaintop of Traverse Ridge to the superstructure skeletons rising from the bowels of downtown Salt Lake City, Young's recognized genius and vision have lent a steadying hand for 162 years of orderly growth and progress.

Now it's Whyte's turn to secure the future.

The 55-year-old president of Kennecott Land, who recently logged his second year on the job, is trying to do the rough equivalent of juggling chain saws as he presses forward with west-bench development plans while navigating choppy economic seas. Whyte has one eye sharply peeled on the well-received Daybreak project, which recently celebrated its fifth birthday. Planned for 4,200 acres and 20,000 residences when completed in 2024, it's ambitious by any standard. But it's just the warm-up act.

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