Thursday, December 31, 2015

Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are they living up the the 12th and 13th article of Faith?







Two years before he died, the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote them in a letter to a newspaper editor, John Wentworth, who had asked for information about the Church.
Ever since the Articles of Faith were written, they’ve inspired and directed us in the basic principles of our gospel. They enhance our understanding of certain doctrines and help us commit to living them. They invite further thought. And they’re a good tool for explaining our beliefs to people unfamiliar with them.

Articles of Faith, #12 and #13

#12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.



Unless the law does not serve your selected outcome.  The Special Warranty Deed defines what can and cannot be built on the Family Search Plat.  I suggest you read it.  The Specialty Warranty Deed is a contract between a Grantee and Grantor. A contract is a legal instrument.  If you proclaim to sustain the law, read the deed and live by the letter of the law as signed.  There is no mention of a Stake Center or 120,000 sq ft office building in the Special Warranty Deed, however, it does mention a 6,000 square feet Family Discovery Center on the southern border. 

The City of Lehi has enacted city code that governs resort communities (chapter 28).  I suggest you read it and adhere to it exactly as it is written.  This is not a time to mince words or live in the grey areas of life or to error a bit left of center (in this case all the way to the left).  Your scheme and plans to seek variations from the city is an attempt on your part to not be obedient and circumvent the law.

It must be noted that when I refer to the law, I am referring to contract law, what is legal under the terms and conditions of a contract.  I have not seen the purchase and sale agreement between the Corporation and Beesmark.  Maybe the contract is different than what was recorded at the County. Maybe, what does it matter. All we can see is what is recorded at the county, that is the only information we have available to us.

Do your means really justify your ends?  

Does ignoring the contract you signed to build a 6000 square foot Family Search and Discovery Center really justify your desire to build a Stake Center and 120000 square foot commercial office complex?

For goodness sakes, the area you have divided off was a driving range on a PGA golf course, don't you get that?  It had a use, a perfect use for the golf course.  You had to come in an ruin a perfectly good driving range for your selfish needs.  There was plenty of land east of the railroad tracks, much of it close to the TRAX station that you could have used.  It may not have been donated to you or partially donated to you and you may have had to pay fair market price, just like the rest of us.

I highly suggest that Nathan Hale, Brent Roberts, Mayor Bert Wilson, Kim Struthers, Lehi City DRC members, Planning Commission members and City Council members remain honest, transparent and obedient to the laws of the land. I highly suggest you take into account the language in the Special Warranty Deed signed by the Corporation and Beesmark and not approve anything other than what is recorded at the county.  Now, I know this may not be your job.  But now that you know what has been recorded, are you going to let some unscrupulous developer come in and build whatever they want because you believe it does not violate any land building ordinance? This developer is violating the terms and conditions of the Special Warranty Deed they signed and recorded at Utah County. The City has a fiduciary duty and obligation once notice has been brought to their attention that a developer may be in violation of a contract they signed to purchase a parcel of land to give notice to that developer to come into compliance to the contract they have signed.  They owe this to the citizens of Lehi to protect us from unscrupulous developers. Our health, safety, welfare and MORALS of the city are at stake.

#13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Unless being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous and doing good to ALL men gets in the way of one of your building projects. I was told of a discussion by a neighbor of mine who had a conversation with one of those employed by the LDS Church special projects division.  He indicated that he went throughout the world placating disgruntled land owners surrounding their building projects.  He indicated that in the end, the Church always WON and their project advanced as they intended.  It doesn't sound as though the Church is doing good for ALL men. 



Definition of honest -
free of deceit, untruthfulness, sincere

Take a close look at the Special Warranty Deed you signed and recorded in Utah County.  Would you propose that the building project you have laid out on the Thanksgiving Point driving range, now known as the Family Search Plat (should have been recorded by metes and bounds and not a plat, see chapter 28, section 28.080) is within the description of the building project you outlined in the Special Warranty Deed? I don't think so. 

Would it be honest, true, benevolent and virtuous of you to build something different than you contractually signed to build in the Special Warranty Deed? Your salvation is on the line.  Are you going to live up to the contract you signed or are you going to be selfish and build whatever you want or are you going to expect Beesmark LLC and the City of Lehi to give you cover to manipulate the development process in your favor?

The Special Warranty Deed is the only document I can view in Utah County, there may be a whole host of other documents you created when you bought the property.  I would welcome an opportunity to be given a complete set of documents surrounding the purchase and sale agreement you made with Beesmark LLC.  I guess it is possible you outlined in those documents your intention of building a Stake Center on the southern border of the driving range and a 120,000 commercial office building on the northern border. I guess it is possible you forgot to include these these proposed buildings in the Special Warranty Deed.

We won't know your intentions unless you provide them to the world to review.  I think it would serve you well to provide a copy of the purchase and sale agreement along with any other documents included in that agreement to the public. With out that, all we can go on is what is recorded at Utah County and what is recorded at Utah County is a copy of the Special Warranty Deed which indicates your intention of building a 6000 square foot Family Search and Discovery Center and NOT a Stake Center and 120000 commercial office building.

Now do the right thing and if you must build on the Thanksgiving Point driving range, for goodness sakes, live up to the agreement you signed and recorded at Utah County.  To do otherwise would be dishonest, not truthful, virtuous or benevolent.


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