Go fund me login https://www.gofundme.com/a8c7tues
Lehi resident starts GoFundMe for money to file lawsuit
against LDS Church
Lehi
resident Bill Conley has started a GoFundMe.com page to raise money for a
“top-notch” attorney for a lawsuit against the city and The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Conley,
a candidate for the Lehi City Council this past August, launched the page
Friday. Thus far it has received no donations. His goal is to raise $100,000.
“It’s
got out there and this week I was going to start to promote it,” he said during
a Monday phone interview.
Conley
is not dropping the campaign platform he embraced during the summer — stopping
the LDS Church from building a four-story office building on what is now the
driving range for the Thanksgiving Point Golf Course.
The
proposed site for the building, which would house the church's FamilySearch
genealogical service, is 120 feet from Conley’s Thanksgiving Village home.
The
church initially proposed two four-story office buildings on the site. After
hosting two open-house meetings, it has since revamped its plans to replace one
building, the one closest to Thanksgiving Village, with an LDS Church stake
center.
According
to Conley, the city is allowing an illegal development to move forward.
“The
city has a profiteer-style approach to the city code depending on what they
want to choose,” he said. “The intent would be to bring a lawsuit against the
city and the church.”
A
potential lawsuit is news to Lehi's mayor.
“I
hadn’t even heard about it, to be honest with you, and I couldn’t care
less," said Mayor Bert Wilson. "It carries about as much water as a
thimble out of the ocean, you know. It just isn’t going anywhere."
According
to Wilson, Thanksgiving Point has the right to do whatever it wants with its
property. At the moment, its objective is to sell the former driving range
property to the LDS Church and build a new driving range to the north, he said.
“It
certainly qualifies for the planning and zoning side of things, you know,”
Wilson said.
Conley
disagrees.
“Golfers
are incensed by what is happening,” Conley said. “I plan on getting worldwide
attention by this. I want golfers around the world to know what is happening to
this PGA golf course.”
In
Conley's view, no one should be allowed to develop over a PGA-caliber driving
range, especially in a residential community such as Thanksgiving Point.
Basically,
Conley made three points against the proposed FamilySearch development: the
proposed building is illegal, nearby transportation routes are at fail with two
intersections that need traffic signals, and again, he wants to preserve the
sanctity of the PGA-style golf course.
The
city is working through the traffic issues brought up by a study done by the
LDS Church and has contracted a third party to conduct an independent traffic
study.
The
city issued an official statement on the threatened lawsuit.
“Lehi
City is committed to following the design and development regulations stated in
the city code,” said Robert Ranc, assistant city administrator. “We are always
happy to work with citizens regarding development concerns and we have been
very engaged with citizens regarding this development.
"We
will continue to enforce our development code and work with citizens moving
forward on this development.”
Wilson
related a conversation he had with a southern California businessman earlier
this year. The mayor asked why the man would want to move his business to Lehi.
According
to Wilson, the following exchange took place:
“Because
this is the place of all’s happening is right here.”
“But
with all the traffic problems?”
“What
traffic problems? You don’t know what a real traffic problem is."
In
other words, the traffic issue is one of perspective.
“People
can say anything they want to say, and yet in the old days when you would walk
across Main Street, the horse would go around you," Wilson said. “And
nowadays if you try the same thing, you are going to be picking your fanny out
of somebody’s radiator.”
Conley’s
perspective is fueled by personal experience. He moved to Thanksgiving Village
more than two years ago and admits the area had traffic issues when he moved
there, and the situation has worsened.
He
got married in September and is worried for the safety of his new wife, whose
four-year battle myeloma resurfaced 10 months ago.
“In
fact, if she got a fever of over 101.5 she has to be rushed to the emergency room
immediately,” Conley said.
“Two
days after [a November meeting] we had to bus her to the emergency room at the
Huntsman Cancer Research hospital, and it took us 20 minutes just to get from
our home to the freeway and that’s one mile, by the way.”
According
to Lizzy Smith Conley, it took nearly 90 minutes to get to the hospital in Salt
Lake City. She spent the next 16 days in the hospital, fighting pneumonia
without white blood cells.
“She
was just released Saturday. We are just hoping and praying for her,” Bill
Conley said.
The
issue is the LDS Church is only concerned with making a profit, Lizzy Conley
said.
“I’m
LDS and I’m appalled," she said. "I didn’t realize that the church
was more about money than preaching the word of God."
Cathy Allred is north Utah
County reporter for the Daily Herald and can be reached at heraldextra.ca@gmail.com
and followed on Facebook: North County News.
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