Anyone on this board live in Daybreak? What has been your experience? Is it possible for a non-lds to make friends there and feel part of the community? Would it be better than living in Utah County?

I am trying to make some decisions and any input from somebody with experience living in Daybreak would be useful.

Thanks

I've lived in Daybreak since 2007. Oooooh do I have some stories I could share....

I live within 5 houses from the temple and I've felt stranded on an island for much of the time I've lived here with my wife and 4 kids. The wife is still active and I'm very openly against TSCC. The only reason we still live here is that it's a pretty good social environment for them despite the narrowminded culture that exists. Kids are everywhere, school is within walking distance, the kids can walk out the door, grab some friends (houses are close together), and go to one of dozens of parks and a couple of swimming pools and I feel like they're safe by themselves.

I really enjoy socializing/throwing parties with "normal" people, but the neighborhood is loaded with TBM products who seem to me to always be having "who hornors their priesthood the most" contests. I think I'm the only apostate on the block (with the exception of a gay couple that live on the corner). I haven't hosted any get togethers for the 5 years I've lived here because I haven't met anyone I can feel comfortable being myself around (having a few drinks, talking about anything in life besides church, dropping a few cuss words,etc.).

This has been my experience, but my wife has a completely opposite view. She's a very liberal mormon and goes to church primarily for the social experience. She doesn't really believe the absurd doctrine. She really likes the people in the neighborhood, but then again, she finds the good in just about anybody.

Open your eyes and you will find plenty of exmo's and nevermo's in Daybreak. What's the fastest growing business on SoDa Row? The Break - for all of its spirit-lifting drinks :) Having a 15yo son learning to drive I've found the temple in Daybreak to be a great blessing on Sunday mornings as I can teach my son the ways of the road without too many cars around in that sacred parking lot. Go to the DCC fitness center on Sunday (but not between 10-12; just 8-10 or 12-2) and you'll find plenty of likeminded people while staying fit/strong. In a block party while sipping some uplifting spirits this weekend I made a comment about the Truman Show and the look/feel of the houses so I have to agree with that part of Twisted Sister's comments but not most of the rest. Yes there are TBM's here but they know they have to maintain boundaries :) Email me at alex_degaston@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to share more.

Yeah, Daybreak is full of exmos. We've lived here since 08 and didn't make any friends in the neighborhood until we started socializing with people who didn't go to church. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of mormons, but it's not overrun. There are still the statistical minority.

And schmowned, you've got to be REALLY close to us! We're within a block of the temple.

schmowned, I'm sort of in the same situation as you. I've lived in Daybreak for three years now. My wife is still TBM, but I've been out for 6 years now. I too live a few houses away from the temple.

I actually really like Daybreak and the area in general. The Break is a great neighborhood bar, and I really enjoy all of the trails and outdoor activities. I love being able to go for a walk or run and not have to be on the road.

I agree with xnorth, there are a lot of mormons but it's not overrun.

Interesting I lived about a block away from the temple for a couple years. I'd lay in bed and stare out the window at ol' Moroni blowing his horn. Hello former neighbors.

Get out of Utah........if you want to make friends.

I find it easier to wait until all of the unfriendly people leave Utah. The rest of us who stay are pretty happy.

Ironically, my wife and I have made more friends since leaving the cult than we did in the cult. And we're in Utah, right next to Daybreak!

I never thought I would say this in a million years, but I actually like Utah more as an exmo than I ever did as a mo. There are still things that suck-- such as the oppressive church-controlled government, but even that seems like it is slowly changing.

I agree. If you get an opportunity to get out of Mormon Land take it. I am currently preparing to make a move out of SLC and couldn't be happier.

It looks like a idealistic fantasy dream-state neighborhood.

The Truman Show comes to mind.

I lived in a neighborhood similar to Daybreak, and for awhile it appeared to be perfect on the outside. In reality, it was anything but perfect. They had sex, drugs and rock & roll going on behind closed doors. Wife swapping, husbands cheating, one house blown up over jealousy between an ex-husband & the new boyfriend. You know -- just another typical day in Utah.

Outward appearances are so very important to the LDS people so this kind of neighborhood would be wonderful for any TBM.

I guess the social aspect of this neighborhood would be appealing and knowing lots of people in close proximity could be nice?

It would not be a place of Free Thinkers.
Cult Followers maybe?

sistertwister Wrote:

> The Truman Show comes to mind.

Yes. This.

I hear the upper Mid-west is nice...Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio

If you like your mountains then the midwest is probably not for you but it does have its own charm and beauty if you care to see it.

The church is here. They are about to build a temple in an affluent suburb just north of Indy. Still, compared to Utah it is very, very small.

Winters are unpredictable. It could be a really cold and snowy one year and then the next it could be kind of mild.

Its really green in spring through fall. Fall is the best time of year here.

My TBM parents and sisters pretty much rule most tof Daybreak. They practically settled it like in olden times. So myself being the most raging apostate of the bunch have a particularly keen insight on Daybreak. If you have to live in SLCounty and don't mind bein an apostate in an extremist Mormon village AND you don't have kids in school there, I would recommend it. The shit heads in the scout troops in Daybreak wards sound downright horrible, so if you have ex/jack/nevermo kids in jr high or high school they will be ridiculed/singled out in the neighborhood. The major problem with this Mormon settlement is that EVERY GOD DAMN PERSON IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD KNOWS EVERYBODY IN THE GODDAMN NEIGHBORHOOD. My dad was a ward mission leader up there; holy shit he had a map in his home office of the neighborhood with color coded diagram of who was active, inactive, jack, and non Mormon in the tiny ward boundaries. The sheer intimacy of social life is too close for comfort. UNLESS YOU FIND PLEASURE IN SPRAYING PEOPLE WITH THE HOSE AS THEY WALK TO CHURCH ON SUNDEE - then it has to be a slice of paradise.

Homes are beautiful and dirt cheap...as you know. It would be a dream and no brainer anywhere else in America.

Hey, I was wondering if you still live in Daybreak.. I'm doing a project on the Break Bar... Mainly if it has influenced the mormon community in an way (caused any tension) or how does the mormon community view this development...

I would love to hear your opinion.. You seem to have some insider information.. ?

Or anybody have a viewpoint on this?

Park City is not that far away. It has very low rate of Mormonism. Those that are Mormon, tend to be pretty reasonable folks.

Daybreak is very pretty and you can get a lot of house for your money there. But be aware that Daybreak is built on tailings from the Kennecot/RioTinto mine that looms just above Daybreak to the west. Kennecot/RioTinto says that they remediated all environmental damage to the topsoil in the Daybreak developments and that it's perfectly safe. Still, I've been told that when you buy a house there, you have to sign a thick contract, one clause of which states that you can't sue the developers for any environmentally-caused diseases you may contract. I looked at Daybreak when I was house shopping, but didn't pursue any of the houses there because of environmental concerns. Plus, it's FAR from everything else.

I also looked at Daybreak a couple of years ago. With the layout of the houses (small yards, lots of common areas), you really need to like your neighbors! I wasn't comfortable about being able to fit in (nevermo, no kids at home), and it is a very, very long way across town to get to a freeway. The commute was the main reason, but the feeling of too much togetherness was a strong second.

I ended up quite happily in southern Davis county, suburbia central. Easy commute, a bit more space, and mostly very nice neighbors. Nice price too.

When my son was newly married, he and his wife lived Daybreak-adjacent, and they cast a yearning eye over to the Daybreak area where they had a few "rich friends."

I'm SO glad they moved to California before they made that step.

This discussion reminds me of Cedar Hills, which is another "desirable" LD$-culture neighborhood in the Lehi, UT area. I visited some friends there one Summer evening, just before dinnertime. We sat on the grass in one of the public parks and talked. There were so MANY obviously clean-cut Mormon kids roaming around, some skateboarding, on their way home to eat, smiling, laughing, talking about school, church, family......

Afterwards, I characterized that moment as "My visit to Mormon Pleasantville." And I suspect that Daybreak is the same.

I rented in Daybreak as a single, childless ex-mo. It was a very lonely experience. I didn't feel that people were deliberately mean. We just didn't have much in common. I did find a MeetUp group for non-LDS adults in the South Valley, and that was wonderful. It is still a very active group that meets at least weekly. Here's the link http://www.meetup.com/south-valley-hangout/ That group is the one thing I miss about living down there.

I eventually settled in north-east Salt Lake County, and it definitely suits me much better than Day Break.

Just joined the group. Thanks for the referral.

Hello my family is looking into daybreak to move and we r not mo, is it a left out thing, are the people friendly and will we be left out n my kids. Love the area.But should I be worried.

Well I want to be in the party steet definitely. Thx guys for all information.

Picher Oklahoma comes to mind minus the Tornado.

Living so close to the mine doesn't make any sense.

Daybreak is lame. Draper is better. You can hike on real trails instead of man made ones. Also, better access to the rest of the valley. Day-break is such jonesey, wannabe little stick house hell. People driving their Mercades to their crapily built homes around that smelly ass lake.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2014 11:27AM by london.

My hubby and I have lived here for 2 years. He had serious health problems and we had to downsize, and didn't want to be stuck in a starter neighborhood with no rules, cars parked in front yards, dogs, etc., so we got a small house, but really nice one, and nice ones all around. I have never been a mo, but not closed minded like some people. We love it here. Calm, nice, lake doesn't stink, not like Pilcher OK, no stepforts, what goes on behind closed doors goes on anywhere behind closed doors. We can't have a big yard anymore, but have a nice one, and grandkids can go all over this place and explore and find parks. They love it so much that they too are moving here. That happens, lots of families move here once another family member lives here. We love love love it, AND it will be nice for years thanks to HOA, and if you don't like that kind of thing don't move here. I am not isolated because in fact on my little street there is only 1 family that is Mo, and they are really nice too. If you move to any neighborhood for the social life, you will be disappointed. You take your contentment with you if you are lucky.

My transplanted tbm california relatives seem to really love it. I think they like the look of planned out communities where everything kind of looks the same.
A modern day Nauvoo kind of thing.

i have lived in daybreak for 5 years and am an ex-mo and my wife and kid are active but they everyone is good to me we through block parties and everyone is envited and we openly drink at the party and no one even blinks twice, we live in founders park and there are a lot of Rio Tinto employees and they are from other states and countries i would say our street is 5o/5o mormon. only had one lady tell my wife that we live on the heathen street but that lady has a stick up her butt.

To newcomers: If you're looking at moving to Daybreak, be aware that it is built on mine tailings from the Kennecott/Rio Tinto mine that looms over Daybreak. The mine has been a major polluter in the Salt Lake valley for a very long time.

Kennecott/Rio Tinto says that they've cleaned up the area on which Daybreak has been built, but I've been told that when buying a home there, you have to sign a thick contract, one clause of which states that you can't sue Kennecott if you contract cancer or any other environmentally caused disease. I'd say that shows that they know that there's still cause for concern. Mining is a very dirty, dangerous business, and Kennecott is no exception. Living directly down wind of the mine, and on top of mine tailings is something I wasn't comfortable doing.

Another factor that turned me away from buying in Daybreak is that the developer, Kennecott Land, which is the real estate arm of Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation, is building more houses all the time. Their master plan for the area is vast. They are on track to build as many houses as already have been built. Which begs the question, if I buy a new house in Daybreak and 5 years later I want to sell it, will I be able to do so? How attractive to buyers are 5 or 10 year old houses, when brand new houses are available in the newest phase of Daybreak? Particularly when the buyer is being offered special financing by the developer on brand new houses, as well as the ability to customize the new house?

I do know people who live in Daybreak and love it. They are LDS. But leaving the Mormon question aside entirely, I feel that buying in Daybreak is too risky.

Interesting review of this Utah suburb.

What you describe in tract housing sounds a lot like the building that's going on in St. George, near Zion's. The metro area is currently est @ between 100,000-150,000. Within the next ten years is expected to balloon to app 300,000 pop.

As a growing retirement community, builders just keep on building. Houses keep going up where there was mountain landscapes before. I wondered that too about the housing values, when the house gets to be 5-10 years old. Can the sellers/owners recoup their investment, when other newer homes are being sold nearby for at or near the same market value as the older ones?

For the growing retirement market, they don't plan on the retirees living past 10-30 years at most, anyway. I had a realtor there tell me that. They expect them to drop dead before the house is paid off. So they push the reverse mortgages (new home builders.) They know they'll get the house back once the buyer dies, and it reverts back to them to make another sale to someone else.

It's a cold, calculating business. The homes there are really nice. I liked how the communities are planned etc. What I didn't like besides the dominant Mormon population were little things that are disconcerting, like the mailman doesn't bring your mail to the house. Only to a community mailbox within a subdivision. Guess they just don't want to be bothered going door to door, unless it's an older subdivision before the municipal laws and variances changed to make their lives easier.