Is Blackridge Reservoir worth living near?

Living near Blackridge Reservoir is worth it for most households, and it comes with a parking restriction that nobody mentions at a showing.

That is the part I want to lead with, because it is the thing buyers find out in their first May. Herriman City requires residents in the areas around the reservoir to hold permits to park on the street from May 1 through September 7 (Herriman City, Blackridge Parking Permits). Driveway parking is exempt. On-street parking is not.

The permit system, in plain terms

Each qualifying household can get two resident passes and one guest pass. Single-day passes are available for guests at parties and events, and up to five construction passes for vehicles working on a home.

Whether your address qualifies depends on a map the city maintains rather than a list of street names, so the only reliable way to check a specific house is to look at that map or call the city on 801-446-5323.

Read those numbers again if you have a large family or you entertain. Two resident passes is not many for a household with three drivers, and the guest pass is a single pass. For most of the year it does not matter. For four months it governs your street.

The enforcement side has teeth now. The City Council raised the standard fine for illegal street parking to $100, with a maximum of $200, up from $25. That is not a token increase, and it tells you how much pressure the city has been under from the neighborhoods.

Why the restrictions exist

Because Blackridge is popular well beyond Herriman.

The reservoir sits in a residential area and draws visitors from across the valley on summer weekends. Neighbor complaints about crowding and parking have been a recurring local story for over a decade — coverage of residents’ concerns goes back to at least 2015 (KSL, Deseret News).

The city’s response has been to price and permit the problem. Visitors now pay $15 for all-day parking on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from May 1 through September 7, collected on site by a contractor, with no cash accepted. The city has said the fee is intended to spread visits more evenly through the week and to help cover operating costs.

So the honest framing for a buyer is this: you are not buying near a quiet neighborhood lake. You are buying near a regional attraction that the city actively manages crowd pressure on.

What it is actually like

The reservoir and trailhead are open 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and the gate locks at 10:00 p.m. Restrooms are open April through October. If you are going as a visitor rather than a neighbor, what to know before visiting Blackridge covers the parking fees, the hours and the dog rule.

The rules are worth knowing before you plan your summer around it. No diving, no fishing, no glass on the beach, no alcohol, and no dogs on the beach. Off-leash dogs are not permitted. There is no lifeguard, and swimming is at your own risk.

That last pair matters for two groups of buyers. If you were picturing walking the dog down to the water, that is not permitted on the beach — is Herriman a good place for dogs covers where you actually can. And if you have young children and were counting on supervised swimming, there is none. For supervised swimming, the nearest option is indoors; does Herriman have a public pool covers the county pool and its hours.

Water quality is something the city posts on rather than something you should assume. Historically the reservoir has closed to swimming when health issues arose. Check before you go rather than driving down with towels.

The honest ledger

In favor	Against
Walkable water access most Salt Lake Valley homes do not have	Permit required for street parking, May 1 to September 7
Trailhead access from the same location	Two resident passes and one guest pass per household
Supports resale; buyers ask about it by name	$100 standard fine for illegal street parking
Quiet for roughly eight months of the year	Regional crowds on summer weekends and holidays
City is actively managing the crowding	No lifeguard, no dogs on the beach, no fishing

Who it suits

It suits households that will genuinely use it on weekday evenings, when it is least busy and most pleasant. It suits people who park in a driveway or garage and rarely need the street. It suits buyers who want walkable outdoor access and understand they are trading some summer quiet for it.

It suits less well households with several drivers who rely on street parking, people who entertain often in summer, anyone whose top priority is quiet between May and September, and buyers expecting a private neighborhood amenity. It is not private and it was never going to be.

The group I am most careful with is buyers relocating from outside Utah who tour in the spring. A Tuesday in April at Blackridge is idyllic and tells you very little. I ask those clients to drive the streets around it on a Saturday in July before they write, and that single visit has changed a couple of decisions.

What to check on a specific address

Four things, and they take one afternoon.

First, whether the address falls inside the permit area on the city’s map. Second, how many off-street parking spaces the house actually has, counted honestly, including whether the garage is usable for cars. Third, what the street looks like on a summer Saturday. Fourth, whether there is an HOA layered on top of the city rules, because that can add its own parking restrictions — do homes in Herriman have HOAs covers how common that is here.

If the house has a three-car garage and a long driveway, the permit system is close to irrelevant to you. If it has a two-car garage, a short driveway and three drivers, it is a real constraint you should price.

How it affects value

I will give you my actual read rather than a hedge.

Proximity to Blackridge is a net positive for resale in this city. Buyers ask about it by name, which is more than can be said for most amenities, and walkable water access is genuinely scarce in the south valley. The permit system, counterintuitively, helps on this front — it is evidence the city is protecting the neighborhoods rather than letting them absorb unlimited visitor pressure.

What I would not do is pay a large premium for the nearest street. The houses a few blocks back get most of the benefit and considerably less of the summer friction, and that is usually the better buy. Best neighborhoods in Herriman, Utah sets that in context, and what there is to do in Herriman covers the rest of what the city offers.

The short version

Hours are 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. with restrooms April through October. Residents in the mapped area need permits for street parking from May 1 to September 7, with two resident passes and one guest pass per household, and the standard illegal-parking fine is now $100. Visitors pay $15 on weekends and holidays. No lifeguard, no dogs on the beach.

I am Kelsey Earl, a Realtor with Keller Williams South Valley, and the permit map is one of the handful of Herriman-specific checks I run before a client writes on anything near the reservoir, because it is free to verify and genuinely annoying to discover in May. If you want me to check a specific address against it, send it over.